《Wyrm In The Brain》 Chapter 0 - Illusory Legacy ¡°We¡¯ve come a long way, haven¡¯t we?¡± The figure nodded, ¡°Few thousand years.¡± An old man with a curved spine and an old piece of dried hardwood for a cane chuckled, ¡°A few thousand years and we still can¡¯t figure out how to make sweet beer.¡± The figure shook, ¡°Humans¡­ somehow produce the strangest forms of entertainment.¡± ¡°Yes? Like what?¡± The shadowy figure rumbled, ¡°You enjoy killing each other more than anything else.¡± The old man flashed a smiled, ¡°Not as much anymore.¡± The figure frowned in deep thought, ¡°I still remember¡­ you fresh out of school¡­ researching to cure cardiovascular diseases. They called you the ¡®Crazy Fritz,¡¯ didn¡¯t they?¡± This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. A small laugh escaped the man¡¯s mouth, ¡°Pfft, who knew it would lead me down this path.¡± ¡°Our time is running out.¡± The man¡¯s mouth twisted into a sad smile as he looked up into a black pocket in the sky, ¡°It¡¯s incredible that you¡¯ve been able to even talk to me.¡± The figure smiled, Thanks. Earth shook as the word reverberated throughout the crust of the planet. The old man walked out onto the balcony overlooking what was the Pacific Ocean, now a dry wasteland from the receding seas. Large metal sheets of electronics, biological organisms, and prototype experiments littered the surface of the shattered stone. The old man tapped a black band on his wrist and a screen was projected in front of his face. He gazed into the red fiery eyes of the young man in the photo, ¡°Soon, nobody will have to die like you.¡± Underneath the photo was the words ¡°Patrik Fritz. Cardiologist 2031-5673 !ERROR!-Current. Experimental Fail@$%&.¡± The old man gripped his hand into a fist, ¡°I¡¯ll finish what we started! I¡¯ll fulfil our legacy!¡± Chapter 1 - Termination of MarsH2-3(1) - Cookie Chapter 1 - Termination of MarsH2-3(1) - Cookie A boy sat in a sterile room on top of a white stool around a light blue tinted glass table. His feet kicked under the table as he doodled on the floating hologram that was being projected from a blue band a few centimeters thick around his wrist. Across the glass table, a largely built man with grey hair sat hunched over while watching the child. The boy looked up, ¡°When¡¯s cookie time?¡± The man smiled as he rubbed his hand over his smooth head, ¡°After you finish the work.¡± The child pouted as he wiped the drool that was trailing down the side of his mouth, ¡°Fine!¡± The man made a faint smile as the boy finished solving a part of the differential equation. The sides of the equation gradually revealed themselves as the two vectors were solved. The man reminisced about the moment he received the child four years ago. It was a momentous occasion for a day. And then, so what? The same routine he had held for decades continued. The boy looked across the table and turned the panel for the man to see, ¡°One cookie?¡± A low hum droned on in the background as the sharp thuds of a small mechanical clock ticked away. He pointed at the equation, ¡°It¡¯s solved, see?¡± The man laughed, ¡°You must solve for the eigenvalues too. What¡¯s the point of knowing the vectors if you don¡¯t know how many?¡± The boy grumbled as he quickly calculated the eigenvalues. The man stood up and walked over to a shelf. Inside were six square paper packages. The man took out a knife from his belt and slashed the top open revealing two cookies that glowed a slight blue. On the discarded packaging, the words Ether Cookies were written in large block letters. The paper tray slid out of the packaging. He swiftly slid the knife back into his belt and produced a small flame with a snap of his hand and burned up the packaging. A faint orange light flashed in his eyes before returning to a muddy brown. He placed the tray on the table and pulled his stool next to the boy. The boy looked up, ¡°I did it! See?¡± The man smiled as he slid the tray in front of the boy, ¡°Good job. Take a little break.¡± The boy¡¯s eyes lit up as he stared expectantly at the man, ¡°Really?¡± The man sighed as he looked into the eyes of an excited child. What would his life be like if he still had his children. He mentally scolded himself, he had them but let them go. As he watched the young boy he wondered to himself how he lost something so precious. Had he given up? He felt his nails digging into his palms as he turned towards the boy as he ate the cookies. The boy chomped on the cookie and looked up at the man, ¡°Wuaut¡¯s wong?¡± (What¡¯s wrong) The man quickly came back to his senses, ¡°What would you like to learn about?¡± Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°A battle! A big one!¡± The man pointed to the table, ¡°Clean up the crumbs first.¡± As the boy scooped up some of the glowing crumbs, the man muttered under his breath, ¡°Where¡¯d it all go wrong?¡± The boy looked up, ¡°Huh?¡± He frowned, ¡°I¡¯m alright.¡± He refocused himself back to reality and brought up a panel for the current news. He sighed as he scrolled through a page of blindingly colorful advertisements that all looked the exact same. His eyes hurt from staring at the flashing neon lights fly by his face and he groaned and squeezed his eyes. The panel landed on a large recording of a man talking with a raging fire behind him. The report greeted the viewers and turned around, ¡°As you can see, we are currently watching one of our empire¡¯s mega foundries being razed to the ground. A terrorist attack from minutes ago saw two frigate sized civilian transportation vessels drop onto this foundry.¡± The man¡¯s eyes widened as he saw the walls of the outer containment building collapse. The report continued, ¡°This magnesium foundry is the only stable source of magnesium for the empire. An ongoing investigation has been initiated for his incident.¡± The man sat back in his chair and muttered, ¡°Again?¡± The boy looked over at the man, ¡°Can I go play?¡± The man nodded and the boy left to go to his bedroom. The man stared out the window at the vast habitat. The mansion was located parallel to the ring meaning the windows looked down upon the curvature of the spinning ring that was the habitat. He looked up and saw the artificial sky and the large fission reactor that was the lifeline of millions. He reached out his hand to cover the bright spot that was blinding him. A thought crossed his mind, ¡°What if someone stole the sun?¡± He shook his head at the idea and stood up to look out the large window. He saw people running around on the streets. Just as children had been doing for thousands of years prior. People rushing to catch the trolly, others flying through the transit tubes to get to work on time. The man looked down at his wrinkled hands. The callouses and scars ached to be in the fresh air. The man wondered how many more years he would need to live like this. He looked at the news again. On the headlines were the words: Today Marks The 1450th Year Since Mercury¡¯s Purge. The man¡¯s eyes glazed over as he read the headlines, and he staggered into his chair. He looked at the first line of the article, ¡°On 7002, Gaius on the mothership class vessel ¡®Punisher¡¯ fired a bolt of highly concentrated ether at mercury which turned the surface inside out.¡± The picture in the article showed an animated image of a blue wave slowly covering Mercury. The man¡¯s hands shook as he continued scrolling through the article. The man stared at the panel with tired eyes. As he read, his face became lifeless and lethargic. The final sentence of the article shook him as he read it, ¡°And some infested have escaped.¡± The man stared at the panel in horror as he reread the last sentence. He looked out the window to see a sickly green and grey dot crash through the artificial sky sending large fragments raining into the metropolis. Repair bots quickly caught the fragments and sealed the hole as if nothing had never happened. The man rubbed his eyes as he looked at the grey ball and froze in place. A green panel popped up as a hologram flashed. A voice spoke, ¡°Xenos sighted in MarsH2-3.¡± The man breathed in, ¡°Not again.¡± In a dark alleyway, a small flesh like sphere rolled out of a lab with a caterpillar like grey mass attached to it. The caterpillar slowly consumed the sphere and excreted 3 smaller spheres. The spheres quickly rooted themselves into the ground using wood-like roots. A small green rose like structure grew out of the top of the spheres. Seconds later, a humanoid figure stepped out of the flower. The caterpillar split into parts and melted into the back of each of the figures. Veins formed between the spheres as they collected light. Over time, the entire alley became one large fleshy mass. A security officer shined a light down the alleyway, ¡°Is anyone there?¡± ¡°Yes¡± ¡°Are you alright? I heard a sound.¡± ¡°Sound. All. Right.¡± ¡°I¡¯m walking i- GAH¡­ UGH!¡° Chapter 2 - Termination of MarsH2-3(2) - Cards Chapter 2 - Termination of MarsH2-3(2) - Cards The boy ran into the room. The man sat slumped in one of the chairs as the boy trotted over to him and asked, ¡°What does this mean?¡± The man became focused again and he sighed, ¡°Xenos.¡± The boy looked up, ¡°What do we do?¡± The man looked down and saw the boy¡¯s eyes glowing a dim green. His eyes opened wide as his pupils dilated at the sight of the glowing eyes. He grabbed the boy¡¯s shoulder, ¡°Kid, run to the bunker under the basement stairs. You can do that for me. Yes?¡± As the boy nodded, dim streaks of green light trailed behind his eyes. The man pinched the floating light as the boy exited the room. The light scattered as he pinched it and the man¡¯s hand started shaking, ¡°Shit. It¡¯s started.¡± He quickly stood up and walked into his bedroom. He felt the wall and knocked it lightly, ¡°Here.¡± Winding back his arm, he punched the wall pulverizing a section revealing three small metal briefcases which he threw out on the ground. One red, one blue, and one black. With all three briefcases, he sprinted down the basement stairs to the bunker and chucked them into the cramped space. Ducking into the bunker he looked around in the dark, ¡°You good kid?¡± Laying on the ground was a pool of glowing green liquid coming out of the boy¡¯s mouth. The man stood there shocked, ¡°He¡¯s drooling ether? How saturated¡­¡± The man sighed and shut the bunker behind him before moving the five bolts across and flipping the electromagnetic locks. Placing his palm on a green computer panel, the locks tightened. He closed his eyes and leaned back against the wall. He felt something poke his face and he opened his eyes again and saw the boy, ¡°You want to do something?¡± ¡°Mhm.¡± He fished out a small cardboard box with a strange pattern on it. Thin yellow rectangles came out of the box, each with a number or letter on them. He looked at the boy, who¡¯s eyes had stopped glowing, ¡°Ever play poker?¡± ¡°What¡¯s poker?¡± The man laughed, ¡°It¡¯s an old pastime of mine.¡± The boy picked up one of the slips of paper, ¡°What¡¯re these?¡± ¡°It¡¯s cards. Here, let me teach you how to play.¡± ¡°Where did you get these?¡± If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Gaius frowned, ¡°A buddy told me to hold onto them for him.¡± Before The Luna raid a few thousand years ago. ¡°Hey dude! Take care of these for me.¡± The man turned around and caught the fresh pack of cards, ¡°I got you Buddy.¡± ¡°You better keep ''em for my discharge party!¡± The man nodded with a smile, ¡°Yeah. I¡¯ll put it in my stash.¡± Buddy winked at the man before spinning around and walking towards the armory. The man entered the command module and overheard the general arguing he yelled, ¡°We¡¯ve been hit by five missiles! We need to go on the offensive!¡± ¡°Not yet, we¡¯ve intercepted ninety percent.¡± The general pointed at the radar, ¡°I¡¯m sending out division 72.¡± The man¡¯s blood ran cold from the words. Buddy was in division 72. The advisor pointed at the general, ¡°That¡¯s a stupid suicide mission! Are you crazy?¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m not. These are sacrifices for the greater good!¡± ¡°Bulls-¡± The man turned away while covering his ears. His vision clouded over as he could hear ringing welling up inside his eardrums. The ground shook and the man looked up at the radar. Hundreds of orange dots locked onto the army base started traveling inwards from the edges of the radar. He blinked a few times, but they didn¡¯t disappear. The general dropped into a chair and screamed into the speakers, ¡°Hostile forces inbound. Prepare for impact.¡± The man locked eyes with the general and it suddenly started to dawn on him what had happened as the green rectangles on the radar turned black. An air raid siren started waking up the sleeping man. He breathed heavily as he looked around him. The boy was still sleeping on the ground. He looked down and took his pistol out of his holster. Brushing his thumb over the scratched-out names he gave a sad smile. He felt the burnt grip of the pistol and remembered the time the pistol saved him from a nuclear blast. He sighed; the past wouldn¡¯t happen again. What was the point in remembering the past? Scooping up the brief cases he clicked the buttons on the handles opening them. Inside the black suitcase, a thin body suit that he quickly slipped into along with a few primitive pieces of power armor. However, he only had enough armor pieces for his upper body. He had to use the pieces for the upper body to carry the boy and the other weapons. He took the eight tennis ball sized energy cores and put them into the pockets of his power armor. Finally, he removed a small dark blue dagger and a thin white cylinder and slipped them into a pocket on his chest. He removed a glowing blue repeater rifle out of the blue briefcase. Inside the case was also three full cartridges of plasma which he quickly threw into his pockets. In the remaining red briefcase was a charge rifle along with three single use reactors. He quickly checked and saw a working reactor was already loaded. Nodding to himself he attached both rifles to the back of his power armor on the two back shoulder sockets. The man looked up at the low ceiling and thought about what he should do. A red panel appeared in front of the man. A voice spoke, ¡°Terminating Mars habitat number two section three. Quarantine and evacuation will be conducted in district one.¡± The images of people frozen in anguish from the article documenting Mercury¡¯s purge flashed through his mind as he heard the words. He winced as he stumbled towards the door. He glanced at the boy who was still sleeping and tapped the red panel next to the door. He slammed into the keypad 4, 7, 6. The magnets released the bolt as the man winded his arm back and punched the door and bolt out of the bunker¡¯s frame ripping out part of the door frame. The door squished something on the opposite end of the basement and grey liquid sprayed across the entire back wall. He scooped up the boy in his left arm and exited the room. The basement was littered with fleshy spheres and large green veins that sprawled out from them. Grey eyes appeared from the flesh and stared right at the man as he exited the bunker. Shouldering the repeater rifle in his right arm while balancing the boy in his left, he put the closest ball of flesh within the holographic sights. *Pop* Chapter 3 - Termination of MarsH2-3(3) - Blink Chapter 3 - Termination of MarsH2-3(3) - Blink Awkwardly turning the rifle at an angle to look down the scope, he quickly centered the dot on the pink fleshy mass. *Pop* Shining light blue plasma spurted out the end of the rifle splattering on the pink and grey mass of flesh. It punctured a hole as bubbles formed in the grey blood that trickled out. The smell of burning flesh filled the air as the vessels running along the ground began to pump more grey liquid to the damaged mass. Sprinting through the basement he could feel tiny needles on his skin from the eyes staring at him as he ran across the basement and up the stairs. As he reached the entrance of the mansion he raised his foot and kicked the metal handle and bolt through the wooden door. The door bounced twice before coming to a stop at the other end of the street. The man looked around before beginning to sprint towards the closest trolly. As he ran, he popped shots at the passing balls of flesh creating puddles of grey blood behind him. A trail of two green streaks followed him from the sleeping boy¡¯s eyes. He skidded to a stop in front of a trolly terminal and tapped on the floating hologram. A buzzing sound played as the hologram started disbursing and breaking up. The man looked down at the terminal and saw the control panel had a hole in it. A pool of liquid coolant was trickling out of the hole as wires spilled out of it. Ripping off some of the wires from the back, he tied the boy to his back between the two rifles to free up his left arm. As he did so, he felt the ground start to quake. Looking up he saw two green humanoid dots sprinting towards him. He cursed under his breath, ¡°Shit. Goblins already?¡± They humanoid figures were like a pair of trucks, each figure towering five meters tall and two meters wide. Each step seemed to let out the sound of a gunshot as the metal supporting the road bent under the force of each footstep. He took the red rifle off his back and pulled back a red safety lever on the reactor locking it into the rifle with a satisfying click. The man smirked, ¡°That sound gets me every fucking time. Ha haa!¡± Red light started pouring out the front of the rifle as the reactor spun up. A holographic targeting panel appeared on the side of the rifle and the man knelt stabilizing the rifle on the trolly terminal. A shrinking sphere appeared on the targeting computer as the goblins were outlined in red. As the sphere passed over the goblin on the left, the indicator flashed green. *BAM* The man¡¯s boots left two black skid marks on the ground as his right shoulder sagged from the impulse. He shook his arm out, ¡°Gah, hurts like hell no matter how often I do it.¡± A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. Squinting down the road, he saw a large red explosion as green and grey blood sprayed out painting the floor a sickly dark green. The remaining goblin continued sprinting with newfound vigor after his friend had been dismembered, vaporized, and dispersed all at the same time by a mini fission bomb. The man pulled out the small white cylinder from his left chest pocket and stood up. With his numb right hand, he inserted two of the power cores into the sockets in the armor plates on his shoulder blades. Looking down at the screen on the back of his forearm, he tapped on the two circles on the white silhouette. The cores started humming as light blue light streamed out the circular lines. The whir of mechanical parts inside the armor plates resonated with the whole suit as a panel appeared in front of the man. He looked up and saw a percentage, ¡°Twenty percent. Huh.¡± Breathing in, he pinched the top of the cylinder and whipped it to the left rapidly extending a folded blade coated in a thin layer of plasma. Dragging the blade against the ground, he stepped a few meters from the terminal and crouched down in a running stance. Picking up the sword with both hands, he held it parallel to the ground and breathed in, ¡°Let¡¯s see if I still got it. Hang in there kid.¡± Blink The man¡¯s eyes flashed red as the world seemed to slow down. The goblin who was rushing towards him seemed to be as still as a rock. Red particles started radiating out of his nose and mouth as the word blink echoed in his mind like a splitting headache. The sword turned a dark bloody red as the two cores on the back of the man¡¯s shoulder blades began to accelerate faster and faster. The man¡¯s eyes were wide open as the blood vessels in his eyes started making audible popping noises. The man blinked. When he opened his eyes, grey and green blood was raining from the sky and a vaporized black pile of ash was left on the ground a hundred meters behind him. A two thin black skid mark from the pile of ashes could be seen behind him. The man smirked, ¡°Still got it. Hah!¡± The mechanic clasped his hands over a small silver necklace of a snake eating itself. Raising his head, he waited for the synthetic machine in front of him to follow. The machine knelt down and opened up its back. He peered into the computer of a large humanoid machine. The mechanic wondered how these robotic machines were made. Pressing a button on a panel, a large steel rod ejected out the back of the machine and clattered on the ground. The machine¡¯s head turned a full 180 degrees, ¡°Thank you for conducting maintenance.¡± The mechanic nodded, ¡°It¡¯s my job.¡± The mechanic stared directly into the two red dots that the machine had for eyes and could swear that he saw the robot¡¯s mouth curl up into a smile. He looked away, ¡°Remember to get your lubricant redone in a week.¡± The two-and-a-half-meter tall machine nodded, ¡°Noted.¡± The mechanic watched as the large box of metal walked out of the workshop without making a single sound. A chill ran down his spine as he thought of what could happen if the machines fought the empire. He paused his thoughts as his phone rang in his shirt pocket. Flipping it open with a wrist flick he put it up to his ear, ¡°Hello, this is workshop one. How can I help you?¡± ¡°Hm, yes?¡± The mechanic glanced at the Sentinels and swiped his hand across the top of one of their heads. ¡°Hm. So you need twelve pods?¡± The mechanic walked over to the janitor¡¯s storage room and picked up a duster. ¡°Give me ten minutes. I¡¯ll need your clearance code.¡± ¡°Orders received. Please stand by for planetfall.¡± The mechanic flipped the scratched black flip phone close and slipped it into his shirt pocket. Looking at the wall he sighed. On the wall were hundreds if not thousands of deactivated war machines. Each one containing multiple weapons of mass destruction. Walking over to the drop pods, he brushed his finger across the top wiping away a thin layer of dust. Pulling the hood of his robe over his head, he smirked, ¡°Funny how one has dust and the other doesn¡¯t.¡± Chapter 4 - Termination of MarsH2-3(4) - Void Seer Chapter 4 - Termination of MarsH2-3(4) - Void Seer A marine with silver armor stood up from a black seat with a red light shining from the floor. The marine¡¯s eyes glowed a slight light green color as he looked out the window of the command module overlooking MarsH2 section 3. The marine turned towards the marine standing at the bottom of the commander¡¯s platform and asked, ¡°David, what¡¯s the infestation percentage?¡± The marine at the bottom of the platform was wearing all silver power armor plates except for a black helmet he held under his right arm. He glanced up at the commander, ¡°It¡¯s at forty three percent Xavier.¡± ¡°Shit. We¡¯re going to need to purge it.¡± David frowned, ¡°Shall we begin to detach the section?¡± Xavier nodded and inputted some numbers into a keypad. ¡°Hello, this is workshop one. How may I help you?¡± Xavier cleared his throat, ¡°Are you able to provide ground support within the next ten minutes?¡± ¡°Hm, yes?¡± ¡°We need twenty-four Sentinels in district two. Get them there.¡± ¡°Hm. So you need twelve pods?¡± ¡°Affirmative.¡± The engineer paused for a second, ¡°Give me ten minutes. I¡¯ll need your clearance code.¡± Xavier quickly typed fifty or so numbers into the keypad. ¡°Orders received. Please stand by for planetfall.¡± Xavier stood up and ducked out of the two-meter-tall door frame to breathe the fresh air outside the base. He looked up at the mothership class Punisher and smiled. He investigated the city and saw blobs of grey and pink flesh everywhere and sighed, ¡°Prepare some orbital strikes. Hand me the beacon gun.¡± David removed a small pistol from his belt and handed it to Xavier who swiftly stuck it to his belt before starting down the steps to the hanger floor. David looked at him, ¡°Are we starting evacuation?¡± Xavier nodded and stood on top of one of the balconies overlooking the hanger. ¡°Attention!¡± A group of 24 marines gathered around the bottom of the balcony and looked up. ¡°Kill anything that passes the ether threshold. Don¡¯t stop unless you hear glass shatter.¡± All the marines understood the meaning behind the words. Xavier smirked and examined the marines. Each one had at least seven pieces of silver armor plates. Xavier nodded, ¡°I trust all of you to make it out in one piece. I can¡¯t have you idiots going on leave to rehabilitate a finger.¡± The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. The marines collectively burst out laughing while Xavier glared at David. ¡°To be fair, it was kind of miss-¡° Xavier pointed at David, ¡°You bastard got your wife to convince the army to give you five years leave. I could only get one year for the same shit.¡± Xavier jumped off the balcony and landed on the floor of the hanger, ¡°The mothership will drop each squad four Sentinels.¡± He pressed a button on a panel floating next to him and the large metal doors with white letters of ¡°Section 3¡± opened with a loud rumble. A loud voice spoke into Xavier¡¯s helmet, ¡°Be ready for planetfall in ten seconds.¡± He looked upward and saw twelve shining dots speeding towards the section. A loud cracking sound reverberated through the air as they crashed through the habitat¡¯s artificial sky. Xavier smirked, as a series of thuds sent the floor quaking below their feet. Each pod released a puff of vapor before two humanoid figures with glowing red eyes stepped out of each drop pod. Xavier nodded to the marines, ¡°Let¡¯s start the purification.¡± The man couldn¡¯t feel his legs as his left arm was twisting wildly like a noodle as he sprinted towards the edge of the district. Behind him, creatures were kicking up dust on the street. A thin line of blood ran out of his nose and into his mouth. He spat on the ground and looked up when he saw the boy. To his horror, the boy¡¯s wide-open eyes were black like holes in space. They seemed to swallow the light of everything around them. The boy was muttering some unintelligible gibberish as black particles radiated from his head. The man glanced upwards and the stream of particles, ¡°It¡¯s 101¡­¡± He could feel his mind splitting as he gazed upwards at the spectacle of flowing ether. Xavier, David, and two other marines walked through the streets with four Sentinels in front of them firing at anything that was alive. In an instant, red alerts filled the top of each of their displays. A robotic voice announced, ¡°High psychic energy detected. Level: supermassive black hole.¡± Xavier¡¯s eyes opened wide, ¡°What is a black hole doing here?¡± David looked over his shoulder, ¡°Should we go to the source?¡± Xavier nodded, ¡°Deploy the shield.¡± David produced a white cylinder from his back and stuck an energy core onto the top of it. Around them, the air seemed to crystallize as a thin barrier was formed. David started twisting the ends of the cylinder adjusting the settings. Xavier saw multiple goblins frantically scurrying away from a pillar of black light that poured into a column to the top of the artificial sky. He stared at a Sentinel, ¡°Protocol twelve, fire on sight.¡± ¡°Orders received. Targeting sixty incoming heat signatures.¡± In unison, the four Sentinels raised their arms parallel to the ground. Their chest plates flipped outwards covering the top of both their arms while extra armor plates on their arms wrapped underneath to cover the bottom. All four of them swiveled their heads at an unnatural angle to look at Xavier, ¡°Repeater cannon deployed.¡± Xavier patted one of them on the shoulder, ¡°Fire in green.¡± ¡°Orders received.¡± Thin lines of light blue electricity, ether, and other coolant liquids flowed around the cannons as each of the sentinels knelt resting the cannon on their knees. Xavier tapped a few buttons on his wrist and a projected hologram in the marine¡¯s helmets showed the accuracy indicators for the Sentinels. Xavier glanced at David who nodded, ¡°We¡¯ll be fine as long as the shield holds up in this ether storm.¡± Xavier frowned, ¡°But why the hell is a void here?¡± David shrugged, ¡°There¡¯s only thirty or so voids in the galaxy and only three or four can do something like this.¡± Xavier gazed upwards at the expanding pillar of black, ¡°Could it be another galaxy?¡± David scoffed, ¡°You do know how three-dimensional space works right? Physics would not let th- oh. Well... Shit. ¡° At the top of the pillar, a presence breathed out sending a shockwave of ether into the habitat section. The other two marines blacked out collapsed on the ground. The tracers in their eye slits extinguished as they fell into stasis. David coughed as he felt a splitting headache go through his head. He quickly regained his balance and looked up at the shield. A large grey crack ran along the length of it as the Sentinels start firing volley after volley of highly concentrated jets of bright blue plasma making the ground quake from the resonating shockwaves. Xavier gazed up at the massive cloud of ether creating a fog in front of the artificial sky. He blinked. *Shatter* Chapter 5 - Termination of MarsH2-3(5) - Fritz Chapter 5 - Termination of MarsH2-3(5) - Fritz In 2053, just before the genetic revolution. A pale bald man with dark patches of chemical burnt skin leaned over a test tube. Vapors of a sickening brown color wafted up into the attic as the man felt around for his glasses. He hit his hand on a different test tube, knocking it over into a vat of liquid with a loud splash, ¡°Damn it! Why haven¡¯t those new goggles arrived yet?¡± A blinding light filled the room as a young man scrambled into the room, ¡°Gramps! Stop pushing yourself!¡± The scientist chuckled, ¡°Thanks for worrying about me Gaius. Can you hand me my glasses?¡± The young man plucked a small blur of white off the ground and handed it to the scientist, ¡°Are you okay grandpa Fritz?¡± As he slipped the glasses onto his head, Dr. Fritz nodded, ¡°You¡¯re saving me big guy. What have you been up to?¡± The man smiled, ¡°I just got on the varsity football team! All the guys back in Boston have been calling me nonstop.¡± Dr. Fritz smirked, ¡°You are going for college sports?¡± Gaius frowned, ¡°Well I¡¯m planning on the air force academy. Only thing I gotta prepare for is the walk.¡± Dr. Fritz looked at the largely built young man with fiery red hair and goatee. He smiled, ¡°You¡¯re a true Fritz.¡± Gaius glanced at the large vat of bubbling clear liquid, ¡°What¡¯re you working on gramps?¡± Dr. Fritz gazed down into the vat, ¡°Regrowth.¡± In 2056 just before Gaius goes to the US Air Force Academy. ¡°You¡¯re giving me dad¡¯s pistol?¡± Dr. Fritz nodded, ¡°You¡¯re at about that age. This pistol has been passed down in our family since we came to America after the war to end all wars!¡± Both laughed at the phrase. Gaius looked up at Dr. Fritz, ¡°Who¡¯s that?¡± Dr. Fritz laughed, ¡°You can find that yourself in the family library!¡± Gaius looked down at the pistol and saw many scratch marks on the grip, ¡°What are these?¡± ¡°Everyone always puts their own name and the names of their close comrades when they go off to war. When they die, we scratch their name off the pistol.¡± Gaius nodded, ¡°Dad¡¯s name is still here.¡± Dr. Fritz pointed at the name, ¡°That¡¯s because the owner of the pistol has to scratch it off.¡± He proceeded to hand him a small pocketknife and leaned back, ¡°Remember to scratch my name once I die.¡± Gaius nodded as he placed the tip next to the left of his father¡¯s name, ¡°Jacob Fritz.¡± If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Dr. Fritz nodded. He wheeled himself down the ramp to the basement as Gaius followed behind him, ¡°What¡¯re you trying to show me gramps?¡± ¡°You¡¯ll see.¡± In the middle of the basement was a large tub filled with a clear liquid. Dr. Fritz pointed to the tub, ¡°Take a dip in it.¡± Gaius balled up his work out cloths and dropped them on the floor with the pistol on top, ¡°So what does this experiment do?¡± Dr. Fritz smiled, ¡°Hmm. I think it widens up your veins and reinforces them.¡± Gaius looked at the tub with suspicion and jokingly asked, ¡°You sure this won¡¯t kill me?¡± Dr. Fritz shook his head, ¡°It¡¯s not nearly powerful enough for that. But it might hurt a little. It¡¯s a power from another dimension after all.¡± ¡°What do you mean other dimension?¡± Dr. Fritz scratched his head, ¡°I really don¡¯t know much either. Gaius slipped into the tub and gave a thumbs up to Dr. Fritz. The sound of sharp snapping noises filled the air. ¡°GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH¡± The man looked up to see the plane of material existence shatter above him as a large presence loomed inside the gaping abyss. They looked at the boy who was now staring directly into his eyes. The boy¡¯s mouth opened wide and the quietest sound as weak as a pin dropping whispered. Debt The man could feel blood trickle down the sides of his neck from out of his ears as he felt his eyes and brain ballooning from the overexposure to ether. The man fell on his side right after setting down the boy. He felt as if his skull was cracking from the pressure. *Prrp* *ptchhhh* A warm sensation filled up the man¡¯s neck as his eyes shot open with a dark red glow. A marine in silver power armor let go of the small grey aluminum cylinder that had been crushed into a dense puck. Xavier looked down at the man, ¡°Hey Gaius. What stupid shit are you pulling this time?¡± 1450 years ago, in year 7002, mothership class ¡®Punisher¡¯. Gaius sat on a glowing control seat, ¡°Guardian one, awaiting orders.¡± A voice responded to him, ¡°We must end the infestation on Mercury. If it spreads to Venus¡­¡± Gaius nodded, ¡°Humanity would be at risk.¡± The other marine with the number two in roman numerals on his shoulder plates nodded, ¡°There¡¯s only one answer then.¡± More panels appeared and more marines in silver armor with golden and red roman numerals appeared. Gaius looked up and hesitated before looking down at the map of Mercury. Hundreds of spore pods were regrowing and were almost ready to launch into space. He glared at the panel through his helmet and yelled, ¡°All in favor of purifying Mercury?¡± ¡°Aye!¡± Gaius¡¯s arm shook as he turned the glowing seat and clicked a series of control sequences. He glanced at the expectant marines before announcing, ¡°Purification commencing.¡± Gaius watched as the beam of blue light smashed into Mercury. The blue wave washed over its surface like a massive tsunami as it crystalized the surface. A tear rolled down his face as he gazed out of the command module. He held up the pistol and said four names, ¡°Gaius Fritz, Amanda Fritz, Aria Fritz, Kaizer Fritz.¡± Reaching into a pouch on his chest, he pulled out a small pocketknife with a whittled wooden handle. ¡°Sir! We can¡¯t find the bodies of your deceased family.¡± Gaius stood up, ¡°What!¡± ¡°We could only find three severed forearms with wristbands.¡± Gaius pounded the war table, ¡°You¡¯re telling me you couldn¡¯t find a single trace of them? What the hell are you even doing!¡± ¡°Sir! Dr. Fritz is calling you.¡± ¡°That fake!¡± He flicked a panel, and the face of a middle-aged man with fiery red hair appeared on the screen, ¡°What do you want Dr. Fritz?¡± ¡°Still refusing to call me grandpa huh?¡± Gaius sneered at him, ¡°I don¡¯t know what the hell you did to gramps but you¡¯re not him anymore.¡± Dr. Fritz frowned and panned the camera behind him showing three bodies floating in cylindrical tubes full of liquid. The one on the left was an old woman with blond hair while the middle body contained an adult girl with bright red hair. On the right, a baby that was barely a month old was curled up in a ball inside the tube. Gaius¡¯s eyes opened wide, ¡°No¡­ No¡­ You can¡¯t do this.¡± Dr. Fritz smiled, ¡°I¡¯m simply perfecting the family.¡± Gaius stood up, ¡°You know that they won¡¯t make it!¡± Dr. Fritz nodded, ¡°That¡¯s part of the plan.¡± He panned the camera around showing three synthetic bodies floating in tubs. Gaius¡¯s started shaking uncontrollably as sweat dropped down his face, ¡°No¡­ How did you¡­¡± Dr. Fritz smiled, ¡°I think I should start experiment zero.¡± Gaius collapsed into his seat, ¡°Why?¡± With a shine in his eye Dr. Fritz put his face up to the camera, ¡°Science waits for no one.¡± Chapter 6 - Termination of MarsH2-3(6) - Orbital Strike Inbound Chapter 6 - Termination of MarsH2-3(6) - Orbital Strike Inbound Gaius woke up with a start and saw the boy across from him inside some kind of vehicle. Around him were twelve or so normal civilians in basic body suits with pistols. Gaius started to try to stand up before a hand forced him to sit back down. ¡°Easy their gramps. We can¡¯t have you running wild like a decade ago.¡± Gaius swiveled his head around to look at a young man¡¯s face, ¡°Who¡¯re you?¡± David laughed, ¡°You already forgot me? You probably remember me as that bastard that stole your pistol a while ago.¡± Gaius sat back and picked his brain to recall and chuckled, ¡°That¡¯s happened too many times for me to know at this point.¡± David looked him up and down, ¡°So why¡¯s the oh so great Gaius out here? Military intelligence said you retired to the belt.¡± Gaius smiled sadly, ¡°The scientist asked me to come out.¡± David laughed, ¡°Lucky man! Dr. Fritz never asks for favors!¡± Gaius fidgeted in awkward silence. He looked around and realized they were on a transportation walker, ¡°Where¡¯s Xavier?¡± David pointed up. Xavier sat on top of the walker as he scanned the surroundings for survivors. David poked his head up through the hatch, ¡°Gaius just woke up.¡± ¡°I heard, get him up here quickly.¡± Gaius slowly pulled himself up on top of the metal cabin with a grunt. The soft stomping of the six mechanical legs below him surprised him as they smoothly passed the broken trolly terminal. He glanced over towards where Xavier was sitting, ¡°What¡¯re you up to?¡± Xavier mumbled, ¡°Trying to¡­ hack into the¡­ CCTV.¡± Gaius grumbled, ¡°Why?¡± Xavier stammered, ¡°To find survivors obviously!¡± Gaius rolled his eyes, ¡°Why not call support and get a scan like a normal person?¡± Xavier shot Gaius a dirty look, ¡°Not another word.¡± David laughed at the two of them as the boy snoozed away with the other civilians. ¡°Hey! Wake up little guy! We¡¯re almost there.¡± The boy opened his eyes and saw a black helmet with sky blue tracers in the eye slits staring at him, ¡°Huh?¡± David chuckled, ¡°How you doing?¡± The boy¡¯s eyes took in the scene of the buildings zooming past them and the tens of other civilians slumped on benches sleeping. He sat up, nearly bumping into David. The boy¡¯s lips started quivering as a faint green light shined from his eyes. Gaius poked his head down the hatch and tossed a round flat disk that landed in the boy¡¯s lap. The boy¡¯s eyes lit up as he saw the glowing cookie resting on his lap and started eating it. Gaius looked over to Xavier, ¡°Since when did they arm the civilians with second generation power suits?¡± Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Xavier chuckled, ¡°Ever since the terrorist attacks started in the Forge.¡± ¡°How is Deimos?¡± ¡°It¡¯s the Forge.¡± ¡°How¡¯s the Forge?¡± Xavier frowned, ¡°Almost every month we get hit with something.¡± Gaius pulled up the news article he had read the day before, ¡°I saw this thing about a crash.¡± ¡°Prophesy didn¡¯t pick it up because it was an inter district transport. Gaius¡¯s eyebrows shot up, ¡°Inter district?¡± ¡°They hijacked a transport two minutes before landing using black market rifles. The citizens aboard the transport couldn¡¯t fight back in time to regain control of the transport.¡± ¡°What about the security?¡± Xavier pointed down the road, ¡°We pulled seventy percent of all Mars personnel to track spores. We can¡¯t just vaporize sections of the forge like we can on the habitats.¡± ¡°How¡¯s the surface doing?¡± ¡°That¡¯s outside Punisher¡¯s jurisdiction.¡± Gaius leaned back on the top of the moving crawler as the gate for the military base came into view. Loud popping noises could be heard as membranes exploded in the middle of the habitat section. Humanoid figures reaching ten meters tall walked in unison making the ground quake. Gaius frowned, ¡°Orcs.¡± Xavier stood up and unclipped a grenade launcher pistol from his belt, ¡°We got this.¡± ¡°Ha, I see.¡± The large metal doors at the military base between MarsH2-2 and MarsH2-3 came into view with a large letter B above the door. An artificial voice greeted them, ¡°Welcome to border control base B of MarsH2.¡± Xavier tapped the side of his helmet, ¡°This is site B, we are ready for detachment.¡± A voice on the other side of the communication responded, ¡°C, detachment status confirmed. Brace for Torque in 5 minutes.¡± Xavier looked out the window at a large humanoid figure lumbering down the street. ¡°David! There¡¯s an ork! Prepare a charge!¡± The figure was over 10 meters tall with large thick fibrous muscles for limbs that looked like a tangle of sickly tangled vines. Two burning orange dots floated around the middle of a grey ball on top of the figure¡¯s shoulders. David handed Xavier a baseball like a metal object. Xavier snatched it and threw it at the end of the pistol that he detached from his waist. Clicking a button, he broadcasted, ¡°Mothership, prepare for beacon broadcast.¡± ¡°Affirmative.¡± Xavier yanked back a large bolt on the side of the pistol and held the trigger with both hands, ¡°David! Are we clear?¡± ¡°Yeah! Fire it!¡± *Plup- Boom* The sparkling sphere spiraled towards the Orc that was slowly making its way towards the wall. Xavier yelled, ¡°Activating beacon!¡± Everyone in the base knelt as a large red light filled the artificial sky. A simulated hologram appeared on the displays in their helmets while a voice played over the broadcast, ¡°Orbital strike in your area of operations. 10 seconds. Stand clear in-¡± 5 4 3 2 1 A pilar of red light vaporized the orc. Red hot globs of metal flew off into the air as the laser dug into the metal structure of the ring. A small explosion followed in a chain reaction down the road as a volatile pipe ignited. Pieces of debris flew out as the machines that usually maintained the habitat jumped into the red column in grey puffs of ash and vapor. ¡°This is away team; we need live ether signature scans. Over.¡± ¡°Affirmative.¡± Seconds later, light grey dots appeared. Gaius looked over at Xavier, ¡°Drop capsule one.¡± A few seconds later, a silver sphere the size of a car rolled behind him from the space elevator. Gaius smirked as a long metal rod and a strange box like a contraption came out of a small compartment. He stuck the rod into a hole in the box and flicked a switch. The box transformed into a large firing mechanism of a bolt action rifle with a filtered scope on the side. Gaius lay down on the ground as the first clusters of grey dots resolved into singular signatures. Xavier raised his fist in the air, ¡°All units! Open fire!¡± Shots rang out as each of the marines shot at the signatures. Each bolt crushed the steel and cement in its path to pierce the feral wyrms that had caused the infestation. Each wyrm exploded in a shower of ether and grey blood as a hail of bolts rained down on them. ¡°This is C, we are detaching, prepare to counter torque.¡± Xavier looked at a panel in front of him, the habitat would break apart if they missed the timing by even a millisecond. Unless¡­ David grinned, ¡°Five should do the trick.¡± Xavier gave an evil grin, ¡°It should.¡± ¡°All clear?¡± A series of yells responded. Xavier proceeded to launch five beacons in quick succession into the section. ¡°C will detach in 30 seconds.¡± Xavier mentally counted down in his head when he heard, ¡°T minus 20 seconds.¡± ¡°Beacon is active! Prepare to detach on the signal!¡± Five red dots shined in the sky as a countdown proceeded. ¡°Five orbital strikes in your vicinity. Stand clear. In 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.¡± A loud clunk reverberated across the base as the locks holding section three in place released. A pillar of red light blasted the now free-floating section off away from the habitat. Xavier quickly stood up and checked a panel, ¡°Mars Habitat two control, this is base B. Fire all thrusters in section 1. I repeat, full throttle in section 1. Prophesy will send trajectories to stabilize orbit.¡± A series of flashes filled the empty space as the mothership fired high explosive missiles to guide the large section away from the habitat. Xavier let out a sigh of relief, ¡°We did it boys. Pack up and get ready to go.¡± Chapter 7 - Termination of MarsH2-3(7) - Shuttle Launch Chapter 7 - Termination of MarsH2-3(7) - Shuttle Launch A few shuttles landed inside the launch bays of the base as the civilians were organized into their tiers. The boy clung to Gaius¡¯s leg while Gaius leaned on the barrel of his sniper rifle. ¡°Gaius! You must get out of that bad habit.¡± Gaius spun around and saw a cloaked figure walking towards him, ¡°What habit?¡± The cloaked individual snatched the rifle away with a bionic arm, ¡°Stop bending the barrels!¡± ¡°Gee, are all priests like this?¡± A flickering green light underneath the hood glared back at him as the priest sneered, ¡°Your stupid leaning makes us do more work.¡± Two more bionic arms came out of the robe and disassembled the sniper rifle into its components before shoving them back into the capsule. One of the arms stuck itself into a cavity on the side of the capsule and lifted it up, ¡°I¡¯m leaving.¡± Xavier ran over to the retreating figure, ¡°Since when does a priest leave the temple?¡± ¡°Since when throw twelve pods into space?¡± Xavier slapped his forehead, ¡°Oh¡­ We forgot the drop pods.¡± The priest kicked his shin, ¡°Lucky you we have scavenger probes otherwise you¡¯d have a nasty fine to pay.¡± Xavier rolled on the floor, ¡°How much per pod?¡± ¡°A little less than a hundred credits per pod.¡± ¡°Uh¡­ uhh.. twelve¡­ twelve hundred¡­ UGH that¡¯s a fifth of my monthly salary. Ack! Stop kicking!¡± Gaius chuckled as he headed over to the launch bays to find the boy. The boy was sitting on a pile of used munition boxes while staring at the two groups of people. One side had civilians lying on hovering stretchers while the other had people scanning identification passes to board the shuttles. The boy heard Gaius step behind him, ¡°What¡¯s the difference between a class zero and class one citizen?¡± Gaius was surprised, ¡°Where¡¯d you hear about class zero?¡± The boy pointed towards a corner where a perimeter of security personnel was surrounding a group of people, ¡°They said that any class zero individuals that go over there would be treated as a citizen of the empire. Doesn¡¯t that mean they aren¡¯t citizens?¡± Gaius nodded, ¡°There¡¯s multiple classes of citizenship. Refugees and slaves were called class 0 when the class system was introduced. It has kind of just stuck so it become part of official documentation.¡±This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°What¡¯s the difference between say class one and class two?¡± ¡°Typical class one jobs make a hundred credits a month while typical class two jobs pay a hundred and ten credits a month.¡± The boy¡¯s eyes lit up, ¡°What are we?¡± Gaius smiled, ¡°Most people who have been through the military are beyond the class system since we retain our military status until we are killed in battle.¡± ¡°Huh? So doesn¡¯t that mean you¡¯re always in the military?¡± ¡°Once you enlist, you can¡¯t get out.¡± The shuttle seemed small when view in the hanger. Once you got up close to it, it was like a towering skyscraper. It reached 75 meters tall and was 21 meters across on the outside with 27 thrusters on the bottom. A large tower was right next to it with a walkway that showed the entrance of the shuttle. The five fins on the side of the shuttle were wiggling as the launch system prepared preflight checks. Tubes popped off the side of the shuttle as liquid oxygen, fuel, nitrogen, and heat sink had finished refilling. Small head sized robots with welding tools flew around repairing cracked pieces of shielding. Three of the robots flew three large cylindrical boosters. While the boosters were calibrated to the habitat, the first door of the air lock opened revealing a space as large as the hanger. Gaius grabbed the boy¡¯s hand and started walking towards the base of the tower which had a large elevator. With Xavier, David, and two other marines, they walked into the elevator which brought them up to the walkway. The marines walked onto the walkway making loud footsteps as metal hit metal. Inside the shuttle was a large light grey room with a bench wrapping around the edges. In the middle was an elevator and various compartments for food storage or other necessities. Gaius and the boy sat down on the right side as the other marines found their seats on the padded bench. A light above the door flashed yellow and then turned red as the large dark grey doors closed. Three silver bolts were locked into place through an electromagnet sealing the interior of the shuttle. A robotic voice echoed into the chamber, ¡°Welcome to the frigate class Orca-P Shuttle253. Please enjoy a pleasant ride. Launch procedures will be complete in 20 seconds.¡± All the marines clicked buttons on their wristbands. A collective whooshing sound was released as they took their helmets off. One of the marines put up his hand, ¡°Any music suggestions?¡± The shuttle was transported by maglift to underneath the large exit hatch of the hanger. It was already open making it simple to enter. A group of technicians ensured that the magnets were secure before the shuttle was hoisted up into the hatch on the ceiling. Inside this space, a pad just big enough for a vertical launch frigate was prepared. The boy peered out of a small rectangular window and saw that the hinges of the hatch behind them were on the floor. Over the blaring music he yelled, ¡°Why are we on the door?¡± Gaius made a motion of two fingers flying through another two shaped like a V. ¡°We fall through it?¡± With a nod he pointed at the flashing lights above them as the music cut off. An artificial voice announced, ¡°Please remain seated for launch procedures. Depressurizing airlock. Prepare for launch.¡± Seconds later a blue light appeared on the edges of the floor and a grinding sound reverberated across the whole ship as the two halves of the launch area started folding outward. A robotic arm pushed the ship out of the launch bay from its nose and then released the ship. ¡°Ship is changing it¡¯s pitch and yaw, please remain seated.¡± The boy suddenly felt himself jerked to the left as the ship spun opposite the direction of the habitat¡¯s rotational motion. ¡°Brace for 5gs as we decelerate to orbital velocity.¡± Suddenly a roar shook underneath his feet as he felt his cheeks getting pulled down from the acceleration. Slowly the feeling dispersed after a few seconds. ¡°Plotting trajectory to mothership class Punisher launch bay 2.¡± The music started once again and many of the marines stood up to stretch while a few headed towards the elevator. Xavier waved at Gaius, ¡°We¡¯ll get there in an hour so do whatever you want.¡± Gaius looked out the window at the slowly spinning quarter ring of burning metal that he had lived on for almost a century. He sighed, ¡°Maybe it¡¯s time.¡± The boy looked at him after peering out the same window, ¡°Time for what?¡± ¡°Time to meet the fraud.¡± Chapter 8 - Termination of MarsH2-3(8) - Disintegrate Chapter 8 - Termination of MarsH2-3(8) - Disintegrate A green light lit up above the door as the docking procedures finished. Gaius woke up the boy and stood up to join the line of marines. They walked out onto another tower and took an elevator down to the hanger floor. A man with a very thick accent flagged down Gaius, ¡°Sir, you need your medical scan.¡± ¡°I¡¯m alrig- ¡° ¡°Sir, you need your me- ¡° ¡°I said I¡¯m f- ¡° ¡°Sir, ¡° ¡°Okay fine!¡± The man led them into a hospital where a vertical tube was open. In front of the tube was a small desk with a woman and two men. As Gaius and the boy walked over to the scanning station, they overheard the conversation. ¡°You know what to do if there is empty data on file?¡± The woman nodded, ¡°Call you.¡± The other man laughed, ¡°If someone has an empty file their either an alien or their old military.¡± Gaius and the boy walked over a little bump in the ground which automatically scanned the IDs on their wristbands. Two panels appeared in front of the three people. Two blank ID files with just names materialized in front of them. ¡°Well¡­ Shit. So, what are you two? Aliens or Gestapo?¡± The other man smacked his head, ¡°Gah shut up! You¡¯re making a fool out of me.¡± ¡°Fool out of¡­ you? Manager, that doesn¡¯t make se- ACK! Hrmmm.¡± As the man sat there rethinking what the phrase ¡°fool out of me¡± meant, the supervisor stood up and extended a hand, ¡°Nice to meet you. I¡¯m Doctor Oliver. Feel free to call me Dr. O.¡± Gaius shook the doctor¡¯s hand, ¡°Gaius.¡± Dr. O spun around and tapped on the machine behind him, ¡°So who¡¯s going first? Big guy or small guy.¡± Gaius put up his hand and walked over to the machine. Dr. O swiped through the active records, ¡°Last check was what¡­ 322 years ago. Hmm.¡± Gaius shifted his weight as the doctor stroked his goatee. Finally, Dr. O looked up, ¡°It¡¯s a surprise you haven¡¯t suffered any radiation poisoning or had any visible cancer related issues.¡± ¡°First generation psychic.¡± Dr. O snapped his finger, ¡°Ah! That explains it. Now things¡­ line up a bit better? Still, over 200 is undocumented.¡± ¡°The details are classified but I have the nanomachine stasis module installed.¡± Dr. O looked up his eyes wide, ¡°That prototype?¡± When Gaius nodded Dr. O grinned, ¡°Well step in. Let me have a look.¡± The tube closed behind him and two white frames spun around him as they did a scan of his body. When the tube opened, Dr. O frowned, ¡°You have fifty-three tumors in stasis right now. Five of which are in your eyes. Twenty-three of them in your legs. What exactly have you been doing?¡±Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°I used Blink recently.¡± ¡°In your condition? Are you stupid?¡± Gaius shrugged, ¡°It didn¡¯t hurt that bad.¡± Dr. O swiped a panel over to Gaius showing various green and red dots of varying sizes, ¡°Do you see this? Does this look not that bad to you?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve seen worse.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not the question. We¡¯re not in a warzone. And you see these red ones? This is totally unacceptable.¡± Gaius stared at the doctor, ¡°Enough. When do I get treated?¡± Dr. O buried his face in his hands, ¡°Let¡¯s talk about that later. Little guy for now.¡± He squatted down and pulled a mint out of his breast pocket and handed it to the boy, ¡°Hey little guy. What¡¯s your name?¡± The boy looked into the doctor¡¯s eyes, ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Dr. O staggered back, ¡°Whoa¡­ is he okay?¡± Gaius looked down at the boy and saw an empty black void in his eyes. Gaius rubbed the boy¡¯s head as his eyes returned to their normal brown color, ¡°He¡¯s just a little excited.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ well, step in and we¡¯ll take a look.¡± The tube spun again and when the boy stepped out the doctor gave Gaius a confused look, ¡°Who is this boy?¡± ¡°Classified.¡± Dr. O nodded, ¡°Would make sense. The probes can¡¯t penetrate his ether. There¡¯s too much of it.¡± ¡°Interesting.¡± Dr. O smiled at the boy before turning towards Gaius, ¡°And you, we¡¯re going to the back to remove some of those tumors. You two, take care of the boy for a few minutes. There¡¯re toys on the bottom shelf.¡± Gaius and the boy joined Xavier and David on the main section of the control module. Xavier saw them and waved them over, ¡°How¡¯s your health?¡± ¡°Ah it¡¯s fine. They found fifty-three or so tumors. Blasted out twenty-seven of the small ones just now.¡± ¡°fifty-three¡­ twenty-seven¡­ wait¡­ What?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not that many. I¡¯ve had worse. And the particle beam didn¡¯t even hu-¡± ¡°I¡¯m not worrying about that. It means you have twenty-eight tumors big enough that removing them would cause significant short-term damage.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not that bad. Why¡¯re you so worked up about this?¡± Xavier stared at Gaius, ¡°Because it¡¯s worrying?¡± Gaius laughed, ¡°It¡¯s not like you¡¯re about to die. Nothing to be done about it so move on. It aint such a big problem.¡± Xavier stopped, ¡°How many are still in the brain?¡± ¡°Three?¡± Xavier turned away and laughed, ¡°As idiotic as ever huh? As if only your life matters!¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I swear I¡¯m going to shoot you so-¡± A man in a black robe tapped Xavier¡¯s shoulder, ¡°Pods retrieved. The beam is loaded.¡± Gaius had his mouth open to speak but decided to shut himself up. At least for the time being. ¡°How much time until targeting?¡± ¡°The temple has finished the ritual.¡± Xavier looked out the wide window of the command module that showed the broken habitat section. Bright flashes appeared around the quarter ring as corvettes and frigates shot down escaping spores. An officer walked up to Xavier and saluted which Xavier returned, ¡°Sir! Spore suppression will only last for two more minutes!¡± ¡°Good work. Report any abnormalities after targeting.¡± David squatted down next to the boy, ¡°You curious?¡± The boy was staring wide-eyed at everything and everyone that passed him. He nodded. ¡°Typically, this step is done by the best psychic on the ship. Usually that would be your teacher, but he¡¯s too hurt to do it.¡± ¡°What to tumors do?¡± David smiled, ¡°You¡¯ll learn about the function of ether in The College on Venus.¡± ¡°Function?¡± ¡°Usage.¡± ¡°Oh!¡± Xavier had grabbed a strange T shaped silver sculpture from the priest and with both hands on the bottom pointed it at the habitat. He glanced at the priest, ¡°You sure we¡¯re ready to go?¡± ¡°We are just waiting for the channel to open.¡± ¡°Will I need a stick?¡± The priest nodded and Xavier pulled an aluminum stick out of a pocket out of a pocket in his armor. Slipping his helmet on, he opened the plate on the left side of his head revealing his neck. Pushing in one side of the aluminum stick caused a small coin sized piece of aluminum to clatter on the floor. A glowing silver color poured out of the opened stick as he plunged it into his neck. Balling his left hand into a fist he squished the aluminum against his neck squeezing out all the contents into his skin. Xavier¡¯s eyes flashed to a full blue color as the silver sculpture turned blue with a faint line of ether being emitted forward as a kind of aiming laser. Xavier dropped the crushed aluminum puck as he grabbed the sculpture with both hands. His hands turning white as he gripped it tighter and tighter. Blood dripped out of his ears and eyes as the line grew darker and opaquer. Finally, the line turned white. The priest raised his hand. Disintegrate Xavier collapsed to the ground clutching the sculpture. Throwing his helmet, he coughed out a pool of blood. While a green cloud of ether blew over ruined section three. The once large ring fragmented until there was nothing but individual atoms. David put Xavier¡¯s right arm over his shoulders and looked at the boy, ¡°Was that interesting?¡± The boy smiled wide with jet black eyes, ¡°Not really.¡± Chapter 9 - Sea of Venus(1) - MarsL1 Chapter 9 - Sea of Venus(1) - MarsL1 Gaius and the boy waved goodbye to Xavier and David as they boarded MarsL1. Punisher had docked at the lagrange point for restocking and consulting Prophesy. MarsL1 was a massive trade hub. Since the Republic split in the Fracture, the surface of Mars became riddled with restricted air space making it difficult for transportation to stay within legal lines. Most people went to Phobos until it succumbed to a freak depressurization incident. Since then, MarsL1 and MarsL3 have been trade hubs connecting The Forge and the rest of the empire. From the concentration of consumer electronic goods being shipped through MarsL1, the military decided to consolidate both trade hubs into MarsL1 and place a military base in the trade hub to ensure security. Since then, nearly thirty percent of all consumer goods and fifty percent of all military resources pass through MarsL1 at some point in their lifetime. One of the biggest reasons traders welcomed the militarization of the trade hub was the introduction of Prophesy, an artificial intelligence that actively predicts the future, including crimes, before they happen. With Prophesy, potential predicted suspects are stopped and treated before being allowed to return to their daily lives. This eliminated the need for manual cargo scans making it significantly cheaper for traders to pass through the station. Gaius looked around at the large mall like the area that they found themselves in. He looked down at the panel that Dr. O had given him. On it was the name ¡°Patrick Brew.¡± Gaius gave the name a look of annoyance and then looked up at the holographic arrows. The boy noticed two men being escorted by a group of a dozen marines, ¡°What¡¯s happening there?¡± ¡°Where?¡± The boy pointed and Gaius quickly grabbed his finger, ¡°Don¡¯t point.¡± ¡°Okay. ¡° ¡°Those two are traders from the Republic.¡± ¡°The Republic? I thought we try to kill people from the Republic.¡± Gaius nodded, ¡°But they can get Hydrogen and Helium cheaply. In the Republic, getting fundamental gases is as easy as walking outside.¡± ¡°Then why don¡¯t we just take their gas?¡± Gaius laughed, ¡°It doesn¡¯t work like that.¡± ¡°If we¡¯re not killing them, why is there a war?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. ¡° ¡°Why not?¡± ¡°I never really needed to know¡± Gaius found the hospital closest to the docking bay and got checked in. A tall man walked into the room by ducking under the door frame, ¡°Good evening. I¡¯m Pat.¡±This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Gaius.¡± ¡°Haha, a rare name out here.¡± ¡°Sure.¡± Pat swiped through a panel and frowned, ¡°You¡¯ve got choices.¡± ¡°So, what¡¯s going on.¡± ¡°You can only get temporary treatment here.¡± ¡°Why? Can¡¯t you just remove all the red zones.¡± Pat shook his head, ¡°You¡¯ve got three large clumps in your brain.¡± ¡°So?¡± ¡°It¡¯s in your brain.¡± ¡°And?¡± Pat let out a frustrated sigh, ¡°You want to get a hemorrhage in your brain?¡± Gaius shrugged, ¡°I¡¯ve had worse.¡± Pat glared at Gaius, ¡°Look here Mr. immortal. I get transferred out of here in two years. I am not going to let some stupid freak case ruin me. If you want to get better, listen to what I¡¯m saying or go somewhere else.¡± Gaius sat there glaring at the doctor. ¡°You listening?¡± Gaius nodded and walked away. The boy glanced at the doctor who was wearing a very annoyed expression. ¡°Go ahead, go follow your grandpa.¡± ¡°Uh¡­ okay!¡± The doctor sighed and returned to his work. Gaius sat down at a small caf¨¦ with the boy. He ordered a small cup of ice cream for the boy and got himself some biscuits. Gaius looked around, ¡°What should I do.¡± ¡°The doctor said we need to go to Venus.¡± Gaius was irritated, ¡°I don¡¯t want to.¡± ¡°Why not?¡± ¡°I-¡± ¡°And what does this gibberish mean? Why would you eat pain?¡± Gaius squinted his eyes at the piece of paper the boy was holding up, ¡°That¡¯s bread in French.¡± ¡°French?¡± ¡°It¡¯s an ancient language. Or was one.¡± ¡°What do you mean was?¡± Gaius ordered some bread through a panel, ¡°It was used but now isn¡¯t. Just like Latin. Their dead languages.¡± ¡°But Latin is used everywhere?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not spoken anymore.¡± The boy paused, ¡°So then is it really dead?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°When is a language dead?¡± Gaius sighed and threw the question into a query for a new panel. ¡°Here, it says a language is dead once it doesn¡¯t have any more native speakers.¡± The boy stared at the panel, ¡°Then how is Latin dead? The church speaks it all the time.¡± ¡°Huh, it says Latin isn¡¯t a dead language.¡± ¡°So, French isn¡¯t dead either?¡± ¡°Alright fine. Their ancient languages.¡± Gaius looked at the boy, ¡°So what do you want to do now?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Well, I have no idea either. Great.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Home blew up, military found me, I¡¯m now sick. The world¡¯s just out to get me. Let¡¯s go find a place to crash.¡± ¡°Place to crash?¡± ¡°Place to sleep.¡± Walking into the lobby of the hotel, he noticed a group of marines in full silver armor huddled together over a comically short table. It looked as if they were all squatting on the ground to eat. Gaius held in a laugh as he passed them. One of them stood up, ¡°Hey Gaius! We¡¯ve been looking for you. Where¡¯re you scurrying off to this time?¡± Gaius shrugged, ¡°I¡¯m thinking of heading to Venus.¡± The man patted him on the shoulder, ¡°Your daughter has been looking for you quite a bit.¡± ¡°Uh¡­ who? Daughter? Me? Um¡­ Ah! Aria?¡± ¡°She started running prophesy a few centuries ago. You should probably send a message.¡± Gaius winced, ¡°I can do that later. Why are you all squatting on the floor like idiots?¡± The marine pointed to three broken chairs in the corner of the room. ¡°Ah¡­¡± The marine pointed at Gaius, ¡°Anyway, we have orders to take you back to Nexus.¡± ¡°Me?¡± ¡°The Doctor wants to see you.¡± Gaius¡¯s eyes turned red as he fidgeted with his fingers. He didn¡¯t really know how to react, he¡¯d forgotten everything except this feeling of impending doom as if the walls were collapsing in on him, ¡°Sure.¡± Gaius and the boy entered a cruiser the next day. It was spacious in each room, but the corridors felt cramped. Gaius asked the other marine, ¡°When are we getting back to Venus?¡± ¡°Twenty days.¡± Gaius pulled out his little yellow box of cards, ¡°Anyone up for some games?¡± On Venus in level 1 district A. ¡°Kaiser is returning to Venus.¡± ¡°I thought we agreed to keep him out of Venus.¡± ¡°Gaius is with him.¡± ¡°Does Gaius know about Kaiser?¡± ¡°No. I never told him.¡± ¡°What about the Republic?¡± ¡°They sent another offering a week ago. I¡¯ve been holding onto it.¡± ¡°Why didn¡¯t you give it to me?¡± ¡°Because yo- ARCH ACKK UGHHH *URPP*¡± ¡°Ah, I see. You can¡¯t be like this Aria.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°We have to stop the Xenos.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to put Gaius through the prototype. What does prophesy say?¡± ¡°Nothing.¡± ¡°Nothing? Give details.¡± ¡°Inflect- ARUGHH.¡± ¡°*sigh* Continue the good work Aria.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Chapter 10 - Sea of Venus(2) - Doctor Chapter 10 - Sea of Venus(2) - Doctor The cruiser docked to a space elevator station and dropped off the marines, Gaius, and the boy off at the top. An artificial voice spoke, ¡°Decelerating. Opening L1A18.¡± At the bottom of the elevator, a large warehouse like hanger opened with hundreds of people and androids moving about. In front of the door was an old man with a dark hardwood cane. The old man smiled, ¡°Welcome to Venus.¡± The marines all saluted, and the squad leader nodded, ¡°Thank you for welcoming us back Dr. Fritz.¡± ¡°Haha, it¡¯s nothing. I¡¯m just here to pick up the one I¡¯m interested in. The man turned and started walking towards the train station and Gaius followed him. Inside the private train, the low-pitched howl of the metropolis zooming past them filled the cabin. Gaius looked at the old man and realized he had turned into a red-haired man. Gaius sneered, ¡°What do you want with me?¡± ¡°I just wanted to help.¡± ¡°Drag me back after dumping me in the asteroid belt?¡± ¡°I need you for an experiment.¡± ¡°Another experiment? Which one.¡± Dr. Fritz sighed, ¡°I¡¯ll show you in the lab. In the lab.¡± Dr. Fritz set two cups of tea on the table and sat down, ¡°What¡¯re you standing there for? You going to sit or not?¡± ¡°Okay.¡± ¡°Ask the first question.¡± ¡°Who¡¯s this boy?¡± ¡°Experiment zero? Ah! A synthetic projection of ether into the physical plane.¡± ¡°A what project of ether into what?¡± ¡°He¡¯s a synth.¡± Gaius stared at his tea, ¡°And?¡± ¡°There¡¯s not much else to it. He¡¯s a synth.¡± ¡°So, I lived with a synth for years without knowing it was a synth.¡± ¡°A synth with ether.¡± Gaius stared at Dr. Fritz, ¡°With ether? That can¡¯t be right.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Then can¡¯t we resurrect them?¡± ¡°It is technically possible to do it.¡± Gaius finished his tea, ¡°So what about resurrecting you?¡±Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°Not possible.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Dr. Fritz poured out another cup, ¡°Ask your second question.¡± ¡°Did you find a fix for ether breakdowns?¡± Dr. Fritz nodded, ¡°The stasis module can¡¯t contain it much longer. The cancerous cells are also building up. You¡¯ve got at most a decade left in this state.¡± ¡°So, you found a solution?¡± ¡°Obviously.¡± Gaius stood up, ¡°So when are we going to start?¡± Dr. Fritz looked up, ¡°Ask your third question.¡± ¡°Why¡¯d you make me come here?¡± Dr. Fritz threw a data stick towards Gaius. [Start of data log 1] Experiment 0 Note Log #1 (2050) June 23rd, 2050: Ever since finding the cell to enable gene modification, I wondered if it was possible to create the perfect human being. What defines the perfect human being? After all, we are just a collection of flesh and bone stuck together by mysterious laws that we don¡¯t even understand. The reason behind our own sentience isn¡¯t even known. More experimentation is required. December 12th, 4512: I nearly forgot about this project. I recently read a paper by Dr.Legnik who was studying wyrms from the destruction of the Dyson Sphere. He hypothesized that some kind of new particle was in play which enforced the laws of our universe. Mixing this with the 2000-year-old multiplanar theory that I had published, it is possible to stipulate that there exists another plane of existence in which this new particle coalesces and diverges based on the interactions of other planes. Further experimentation is necessary. February 15th, 4543: I found it. The hidden piece. I¡¯m going to name this wyrm the emperor wyrm. Its energy is unique and its hunger for live animals is like no other wyrm I¡¯ve seen. It emits blue and green light while others only emit yellow light. This is a promising result. March 23rd, 4584: I asked myself, what is this stuff that we have been calling ether? Recently, Dr.Legnik was found naked on the street in a fit of insanity. Set the emperor wyrm near a few human test subjects to see what would happen. When I accidentally short circuited my lights in the lab, I saw a very very faint blue stream traveling from the eyes of a subject into the wyrm. I¡¯ve been convinced, the wyrm is consuming the minds of live creatures. Although I don¡¯t know how to use this fact, I can feel like this will become important for my goal. I have almost finished my research on creating the perfect human genetically, the next step will be to somehow make humans have the wyrm¡¯s power. In the meantime, I¡¯m going to improve upon the already existing cybernetics to further my vision. January 1st, 4577: I figured it out. I tried to publish my paper explaining the source of ether but got rejected. It¡¯s just the will of the universe. The will existent in a different plane. Everything inherently contains a will, but sentient beings contain a denser clump which allows them to be sentient. I think if I sacrifice more beings to the emperor wyrm, it will be able to become sentient. December 24th, 4577: I saw a sign of its sentience. It¡¯s learned to answer yes and no questions by emitting different colored light when I ask it questions. From preliminary questioning, I have determined that it appears to have taken the sacrifice¡¯s memory. I¡¯m devising a method to procure the perfect materials. The experiment must continue! April 3rd, 4583: The wyrm became powerful enough to speak into the minds of most people. I taught how to manipulate electrical signals in the brain to do various things. Over 700 medical specialists were invested into the wyrm to improve its ability. I managed to procure 500 elite soldiers from the military through prisoner of war camps. Having the wyrm fully consume people for knowledge appears to be inefficient, currently teaching the wyrm to scan brains and copy information. The radius in which the wyrm can produce these phenomena seems to be expanding over time. The experiment must continue. November 23rd, 4583: Last night, I showed off the wyrm to the world. The first thing I said in the conference was Kneel and everyone in the room except for me was on the ground. I couldn¡¯t believe it. It appears as if my teachings have done good for the wyrm as it¡¯s been able to capture the essence of everything within 600 meters of it. It told me this morning that it was about to produce offspring and shared with me an interesting medical procedure while I was sleeping. This experiment must succeed. April 2nd, 4608: Over the past few years I¡¯ve done large amounts of research into wyrm implantation. It appears that the wyrm feeds off the human¡¯s ether while allowing the person to request actions from it. People have started to call these people psychics which I think seems pretty accurate. The emperor is now out of my hands, it¡¯s strong enough to tell someone to die and instantly crush their heart. As a normal gene modified human, it¡¯s hard for me to withstand even speaking normally with the emperor. I¡¯m going to start investing my time into biological nano machines. For my goal of perfecting humanity, I must first perfect myself. [End of data log 1] Chapter 11 - Sea of Venus(3) - Spiral of Insanity Chapter 11 - Sea of Venus(3) - Spiral of Insanity [Start of data log 2] June 3rd, 4610: The emperor is trying to ensure his safety by eliminating all the guns that could harm it. They¡¯re calling it an inquisition. Is this what it feels like to be a father? Ah. This is amazing. I deconstructed the exact cause for the creation of ether. Maybe I¡¯ll be able to deconstruct myself. This might change everything July 17th, 4987: After many centuries, I have succeeded in turning myself into biological nanomachines. I failed in reconstructing my sentience. I guess my being will slowly break down. This is an incredible experiment. The politics of the outer four are getting spicy. Recently finished the thruster for the Pluto craft. I can¡¯t wait to see it vaporize a moon. This is the last of my ether, future entries will be written by robotic dust. December 4th, 4987: What makes a human different than other humans. Their memories? Their appearance? What would happen if two identical humans were developed in identical conditions. Would they be identical. This requires some extensive research. December 4th, 4988: I have concluded that humans are simply pools of ether. There¡¯s nothing special about humans. I¡¯m not human just because I don¡¯t have a pool of ether? That¡¯s bullshit! Everyone is convinced I¡¯m human. December 4th, 4989: I can clone myself by making my nanomachines self-replicate. Technically, every human is made up of living cells. From the living level, humans are just a large collection of many pools of ether. So, doesn¡¯t that make me the same? Each of my nanomachines contains a trace amount of ether. December 4th, 4990 [Video recording] *A man sitting on a chair facing the camera* Dr.Fritz: ¡°Do you think I¡¯m a human?¡± Man: ¡°Mon- st¡­¡± *Static* *The man slumped on the chair with a hole through his neck. Somehow, no blood is in the recording* [Corruption detected] August 12th, 5000: Pluto shot half the remaining Dyson sphere panels. They betrayed me. I must push for perfection. My life¡¯s purpose. *Unintelligible mumbling* [Data log 2 has been corrupted] 8247: Zero, my ch!ld. @h¡­ My gre@t st cr @t!on. The f!rst and only sy thet!c w!ll. ! Pr@!s Oro#$%& [End of data log 2] Gaius looked up at the ceiling as he flipped the stick out of his wristband, ¡°Damn thing is corrupted. Why¡¯d you give me this crap?¡±Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. ¡°Isn¡¯t it funny?¡± ¡°Get to the point.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t it funny that a device meant to preserve an image cannot preserve as well as a canvas?¡± Gaius turned around towards the voice, ¡°What?¡± ¡°If every cell in your body has been replaced, are you still you?¡± ¡°What are you¡­ saying?¡± Suddenly the voice came out of the other side of the room, ¡°The Ship of Theseus.¡± ¡°What?¡± Gaius felt a smile from behind him as he spun around to run out the door. A warm sensation ran down his spine. He tried to turn his neck but couldn¡¯t. His body was paralyzed as he heard the drip of some dark red liquid hit the metal floor as it rolled down his arm. With great effort, he brought his hand up to his face. A hand covered in blood. A disembodied voice spoke, ¡°It¡¯s time for your treatment. Child.¡± *Ktchhh* ¡°You know, Dr. Fritz was quite fond of you.¡± Swish ¡°And he still is.¡± Gaius felt himself bounce on the ground as he rolled to the foot of the door. ¡°It is said that your brain stays active for 10 seconds after decapitation.¡± ¡°Urrhh¡­¡± Gaius saw a red horizontal line on the door along with a silhouette of his body resting an arm on the door handle before it fell backwards with a loud thump. Standing above him was a synth that looked exactly like him. A black mist appeared next to the synth, ¡°This synth will replace you for the time being. After all, a human is just a collection of memories. What¡¯s the difference between a synth and a human!¡± The mist held his head with a materialized metallic hand and walked over to a large tube in the middle of the lab. Blood poured out the bottom of his head. His head was dunked into the tube along with some liquid. The mist disappeared and materialized in front of the tube with a lever next to the shadow. A young-looking man with bright red hair and a red beard appeared, ¡°It¡¯ll only take a week.¡± *Clunk* Gaius could feel his head dissolve as his head broke apart into specks of dust. However, he could still feel the liquid on his skin, see through the rube, smell the horrid stench of blood. He looked at the figure again and it was only a decrepit old man leaning on an ancient hardwood cane. Dr. Fritz smiled as blank white eyes looked up into the tube. Gaius saw and heard the veins popping into his eyes. And his blood was¡­ green? Dr. Fritz let out maniacal laughter, ¡°Become¡­ perfect!¡± The tank only had blue green liquid remaining. Gaius died. Inside a spy station in orbit of Venus. A woman spoke ¡°Why have you returned so early? The pilgrimage isn¡¯t for another fifty years.¡± Pluto is moving A crystal embedded in the woman¡¯s back shined a crimson red for a second, ¡°Since when?¡± Forty-three years. ¡°Target?¡± Top Hemisphere ¡°The Dyson sphere. Hmm. Time?¡± Two hundred minimum ¡°Contact our Wraiths.¡± Yes ¡°Which prediction was true?¡± Dr. Fritz *tap tap tap tap tap* ¡°Put them through the phychic education system. ¡° Will do ¡°Grow well my grandson.¡± The woman breathed in as she looked out a window onto the same sphere she had stared at for 1450 years. ¡°Hopefully this is the last time.¡± Turning towards her command consol she swiped a few times and brought up some panels. [Loading data for: Experiment 1 - Emperor Wyrm] A wyrm that supposedly was born on Ceres. After thousands of years, the wyrm has a wide enough influence to psychically affect every being in this galaxy. Some think that whenever a living organism dies, the emperor wyrm absorbs their ether right before they die. This could potentially explain the initial exponential growth of the emperor wyrm¡¯s power after it was first discovered. Many humans believe this theory to be heresy against the emperor. The wyrm¡­ [Loading data for: Experiment 0 - Ether Being] A human born from condensed psychic energy. Not many of us know. The prophecy given to the council by Dr.Fritz states that the emperor will become one with the ether being. Few believe it since Dr.Fritz descended into insanity ove¡­ [Loading data for: Planetcraft Pluto] The planet utilizes the theory of ether which states that all forces are a result of ether. As a result, the Pluto project aimed to convert gravity into psychic energy. During the Fracture in 5000, Pluto shot disintegration at the remaining panels on the bottom of the Dyson sphere destroying half of the bottom panels. It is said that the republic sacrificed 9000 psychics for this. Calculations estimate it should be closer to 30000. Gi¡­ The woman sighed, ¡°I guess I should be a good mother now,¡± and shut off the consol. She bent down and opened the golden trimmed black altar in front of her, pulling out a small silver pillow. On top of it was a wyrm shining with bright golden light. She smiled, ¡°It¡¯s time to wake you up-¡± Emperor Chapter 12 - Sea of Venus(4) - Unwritten History Chapter 12 - Sea of Venus(4) - Unwritten History As the marines left the shuttle, a message appeared on their wristband. Young saw the green numbers reading, ¡°+ 250 and bonus.¡± Young smashed the panel with his finger as fast as he could, and a green rectangle appeared in front of his eyes. A robot voice echoed into his helmet as he smiled wide, ¡°Mission accepted. Find the objective.¡± As Gaius walked off following Dr. Fritz, the boy stood there confused by the flood of military personnel exiting the elevator carriage. The boy felt a hand on his back and looked up to see a marine with his helmet tied to his waist. The boy¡¯s lip quivered as the stomps of boots on metal rang around him, ¡°Hello?¡± Young looked down, ¡°Ah, don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m supposed to take care of you. Name¡¯s Young. You?¡± The boy stared at him with a blank stare. ¡°You good little guy?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t hear you!¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t hear you!¡± Young started walked towards a door, ¡°Let¡¯s get somewhere quieter first.¡± The two stopped next to the entrance of a marble arch that led to the elevator¡¯s temple. The boy peered down the dark path, but Young covered his eyes before he could adjust his eyes to the darkness. Young shook his head, ¡°Don¡¯t be too curious about the priests.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Young shrugged, ¡°I don¡¯t know. Some say that a mechanical spider will find you at night and eat you if you see it.¡± The boy stared at Young, ¡°Really? I¡¯m not that dumb.¡± Young peered down at the boy and saw that his breathing returned to normal. Young shifted his weight as he looked around, ¡°Have you calmed down?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Young pressed some keys on his wristband and a small robot flew over with a paper cup full of lukewarm tea, ¡°Just rest a bit. I¡¯m going to get us local IDs.¡± The boy sat on the oddly warm stone bench as Young jogged towards a holographic display between the large marble arch and the metal frame of the subway station. ¡°Here for two district A identification passes.¡± The man on the screen saw Young and in a monotone voice mumbled, ¡°Alright, please send the official documents.¡± Young swiped a few panels upwards sending them to the hologram. The man scanned through them and then looked up, ¡°Where¡¯s the other fellow?¡±This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Young pointed behind him with a thumb. The man squinted as he adjusted the camera on the hologram, ¡°Gah, Nexus must pay me more for this. Right?¡± Young laughed, ¡°They still have yet to get me an ID after a decade so who knows.¡± ¡°A decade is nothing brat. I¡¯ve been sitting on my ass over here for half a century. Anyway, good luck with the kid Young.¡± ¡°Yeah. What do you think?¡± ¡°Think what?¡± ¡°About the kid.¡± The man swiped through the boy¡¯s file a second time, ¡°There¡¯s nothing here.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°The only note is, ¡®He likes cookies and that¡¯s pretty much everything that is useful.¡± Young touched his chin, ¡°You sure?¡± ¡°It¡¯s all corrupted or hidden.¡± Young¡¯s eye twitched, ¡°Corrupted¡­¡± ¡°Well, good luck on that mission. And tell Larry to contact me soon or I¡¯ll come down to the base and beat his ass.¡± ¡°Larry? Why? Something up?¡± ¡°He¡¯s not called me in a decade. That bastard probably forgot about his father already.¡± Young laughed as he turned around to walk back to the boy. He felt his chin again, ¡°Hmm, maybe I have to shave after lunch too.¡± The boy was watching the robots enter and exit the temple as Young joined him on the stone slab benches. The boy heard Young¡¯s footsteps and looked over at him. Young noticed the boy had drunk all the tea, ¡°You want more? We might be here for a few minutes.¡± ¡°I¡¯m good.¡± ¡°What does good mean?¡± ¡°I¡¯m okay.¡± Young sighed, ¡°Alright. Yes or no. More tea no tea.¡± The boy tilted his head from one side to the other as he pondered on the impossible question. Young tapped his wristband and a robot came with another cup of tea, ¡°Well even if you didn¡¯t want tea you¡¯re going to get some anyway.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± ¡°So, what¡¯re you watching?¡± The boy pointed at the robots entering and exiting the temple. Young looked up, ¡°You want to enter a temple?¡± The boy shrugged, ¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯ve never been outside before.¡± Young rang his fingers through his hair and pulled out a few loose hairs, ¡°Do you want to or not?¡± The boy looked up at the marble arch, ¡°Sure.¡± Young stared at the boy, ¡°So¡­ I assume that means yes.¡± The boy nodded as he sipped the tea. The train was pretty much the same as those in the habitat. After all, basically all infrastructure modules were manufactured in The Forge and delivered through low-speed slingshots to their target destinations. Of course, low speed means less than 1 percent the speed of light which is by no means slow for planetary travel. This is most likely due to the excessive strain that inertial dampeners apply to structures that cannot automatically reconstruct themselves. The boy looked up at the ceiling, ¡°Why did you want me to not look into the temple?¡± Young thought about a suitable response for a few seconds, ¡°It¡¯s not polite.¡± ¡°How?¡± Young reached to his chin to stroke it but felt the sharp little hairs poking his hand and stared at his fingers, ¡°You know what priests are?¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t they representatives of the emp- ¡° Young stopped the boy with his hand, ¡°Be careful about this kind of stuff.¡± ¡°But that¡¯s what the books say?¡± Young shook his head, ¡°The universe isn¡¯t a bunch of lines on a panel.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Have you ever thought that the panel could be wrong?¡± The boy sat there in silence for a moment, ¡°Wrong?¡± Young nodded, ¡°Have you seen the news page?¡± The boy nodded, ¡°I think I get it. But my teacher told me that these books are the best that you can find.¡± ¡°Being the best doesn¡¯t mean being correct.¡± ¡°How?¡± ¡°If you¡¯re the best thief, are you correct? You¡¯re the best but you¡¯re not correct.¡± The boy smirked, ¡°Okay. But what if you only steal from those who deserve it.¡± ¡°Ah. How do you decide who deserves it.¡± The boy shrugged, ¡°I don¡¯t know. Rich people?¡± Young laughed, ¡°If everyone stole from the rich, would the rich be rich anymore?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°And then who would be rich?¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Young pat the boy on the head, ¡°You can¡¯t always believe what anyone tells you. The universe¡¯s complexity is deeper than you think.¡± The boy looked up at Young, ¡°But what about science? Isn¡¯t the whole point of research to solve the workings of the universe?¡± ¡°It¡¯s been a few thousand years and look how far we¡¯ve gotten. But is it enough to understand the universe? Not quite.¡± ¡°What are we missing?¡± Young sighed, ¡°My opinion is that we¡¯re missing the culture and the humanity of the old era.¡± ¡°Culture?¡± ¡°What do you mean culture?¡± Young stared at the boy, ¡°You know what the worst part about the republic was?¡± ¡°The oppression of the people?¡± Young shook his head, ¡°The eradication of culture.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°If you weren¡¯t a member. You were an animal.¡± ¡°Animal?¡± Young nodded, ¡°There are things you will need to learn about in school. Some stuff can¡¯t be found in books.¡± Chapter 13 - Sea of Venus(5) - Garden Of The Fallen Chapter 13 - Sea of Venus(5) - Garden Of The Fallen ¡°Now approaching zone eight of district A level one. Please stand clear of the car doors. Thank you.¡± Young tapped the boy who was leaning on him, ¡°Hey, you good?¡± ¡°Awuh uhh¡­ Huh?¡± Young felt his hand instinctively pat the boy¡¯s head as the boy sniffed his nose, ¡°Are you sure you¡¯re fine?¡± ¡°Uh... Yeah?¡± A loud ding rang through the cabin and most of the people stood up. Young tilted his head towards the door, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± ¡°Where?¡± ¡°The temple.¡± As they walked onto the metal walkway, the boy noticed groups of people walking up and down a flight of stairs located behind a security terminal. Young glanced at a panel, ¡°Looks like we got our temporary identification.¡± The boy stared at Young, ¡°How did we get on the train without identification?¡± Young laughed, ¡°You can exit into a lower security zone without identification at any time but you need clearance to get back in.¡± ¡°What if someone sneaks in?¡± ¡°Eh. Never thought of that before. Sixty second scans would prevent that though. ¡° ¡°Sixty second whats?¡± Young smiled, ¡°You don¡¯t need to know right now. Let¡¯s enjoy visiting the temple for today.¡± They walked through the security terminal with their identification panels and were cleared to walk up the stairs. Young turned to the boy as they walked up, ¡°I still haven¡¯t caught your name yet. What is it?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Young thought for a little, ¡°How about Xavier like the hero in charge of the border.¡± ¡°That guy?¡± Young stared at the boy, ¡°You know him? Maybe not then. Hm¡­ What about Zero since your identification number is all 0s.¡± ¡°It is?¡± Young pointed at one of the many numbers on the panel, ¡°Yup, someone in the military specifically reserved this identification number specifically for you.¡± ¡°Ok.¡± ¡°You like Zero?¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± Young rolled his eyes, ¡°Stop being so indecisive. When you got an opinion you gotta speak it.¡± The boy shrugged, ¡°I don¡¯t really have an opinion though. A name is just a name right?¡± Young sighed. Under his breath he muttered, ¡°Lack of culture my ass. More like lack of basic brain functions.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°You¡¯re Zero from now on okay?¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Young and the boy were reaching the top of the stairs when Young asked, ¡°Could it be you¡¯re just bad at names? What¡¯s my name.¡± ¡°Young.¡± ¡°Oh. ¡°If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Young breathed in and under his breath muttered, ¡°I swear I¡¯m going to @%&@ this little &$%&. &#$%&@$%@!@$#¡± At the surface there was a large open area. Behind the entrance to the subway was a large statue of a mostly naked woman peering into a jar. The boy pointed at the statue, ¡°What¡¯s that person doing?¡± Young looked up, ¡°That¡¯s a statue not a per- ¡° ¡°Duh. What¡¯re they doing?¡± ¡°Opening a jar?¡± Zero stared at Young, ¡°Yeah. And?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a statue of Pandora.¡± ¡°Yeah I at least know that much. Why is it here?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a warning for those visiting the temple.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Young tilted his head towards a gathering of people to their left, ¡°There¡¯s many reasons. You¡¯ll see soon enough.¡± In the large area, some people in dark robes walked around with androids following them. Zero looked at one of the robots and saw hundreds of little green dots looking back at him from the moving silent shadow of metal. Zero staggered in surprise and Young caught him, ¡°Watch out there.¡± ¡°What is that?¡± ¡°Shh, you¡¯ll see more at the temple.¡± Zero looked to the other side of where they were walking and saw the group of people bowing to a raised stone with something on it. Zero started raising his arm to point when Young grabbed his hand, ¡°Don¡¯t.¡± ¡°Sorry.¡± ¡°You¡¯re curious?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Zero was a little glum from being caught trying to point at something yet again. Young set a panel to magnify and position it in front of them. Young pointed at the raised stone, ¡°Their offering sacrifices to ouroboros.¡± ¡°The emp- mmmmph.¡± ¡°Stop. Ouroboros. Nothing else and nobody else.¡± ¡°But if they¡¯re not the same then what is Ouroboros?¡± Young shrugged, ¡°I don¡¯t have the same belief as them, so I¡¯ll never understand.¡± ¡°Why can¡¯t I say the facts?¡± Young glared at him, ¡°Zero, look at me. No. Look here. Does it matter if you¡¯re right?¡± Zero scoffed, ¡°Yes? If I¡¯m not right I¡¯m wrong!¡± ¡°Are you?¡± ¡°Fine. Then what is so wrong about me telling them the truth.¡± Young smirked, ¡°Tell me, do you care what they do?¡± ¡°Not really.¡± ¡°So then why stop them? Are they doing anything to you?¡± ¡°No. However, couldn¡¯t a Xeno do the same thing to us?¡± Young stared at Zero, ¡°What?¡± ¡°If one alien decided to extinguish a star. Would anyone care?¡± ¡°Obviously they would care.¡± The boy pointed up to the sky, ¡°But there¡¯s thousands if not millions of stars in the sky and at every moment one of them flickers out. Do you care?¡± Young sighed, ¡°What are you getting at.¡± ¡°At what points should we care about what others do?¡± Young shrugged, ¡°Go ask the philosophy teacher in the academy.¡± Five large marble arches with grand steps leading up to them came into view as the two approached the temple. Large landing crafts took off and landed on the empty space in front of the temple. Black hooded figures with androids of varying shapes and sizes came and went from the central arch while others walked in through the other arches. Young pointed at the middle arch, ¡°I got permission for us to enter the main temple. You ready?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± They both started climbing the steps and took a small break at the top for Zero to rest his legs. A hooded figure walked out, ¡°Hello. I will be your guide.¡± Young waved, ¡°Hey! How you doing Larry.¡± The shadowy figure stared at Young with two glowing green dots, ¡°What message did you have for me.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°It¡¯s written all over your face.¡± ¡°Is it?¡± ¡°The sensors are flashing Young. Better tell me soon.¡± ¡°Uncle wants you to call.¡± ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± ¡°Yup.¡± Larry sighed, ¡°Could have just told me the first time.¡± ¡°Geez, loosen up.¡± Zero pointed at Young, ¡°I don¡¯t see anything on his face though.¡± Both Young and Larry burst out laughing. Larry slapped Young on the back, ¡°Who¡¯s this funny guy?¡± ¡°Ah! He¡¯s the one I sent you in the message.¡± ¡°Oh! Well let¡¯s go in.¡± The three of them walked into the darkness of the arch. ¡°Hey Larry! Can you get the hose over here?¡± Larry stared at the old man who was digging in the dirt of a massive garden with his bare hands. A rope like appendage shot out of the front of the cloak and grabbed the hose off the ground. Larry sighed as he dropped the hose into the old man¡¯s hands, ¡°You should really use less energy¡± ¡°Thanks. I see two unfamiliar faces!¡± ¡°We have visitors. How are the others?¡± The old man smiled, ¡°Oh, they are as usual. Most of them are unusually busy in these times though.¡± Larry turned around, ¡°This is the main component of the temple.¡± The three of them finally walked out into the open from the corridor to reveal a massive room with trees and plants sprouting in various places. Young smiled, ¡°Can you explain to Zero what this place is for?¡± Larry nodded, ¡°As you know, the temples are in charge of upholding order.¡± Zero nodded as he looked around in wonder at the various kinds of fruits trees and plants in the garden. Larry continued, ¡°Military officials retire to the temples to become enforcers. The gardens produce extremely pure ether for them to work.¡± ¡°Purity of ether?¡± Larry realized, ¡°Ah! Most of these officials are synthetics with their remaining biological organs transplanted into their new bodies.¡± ¡°Synths?¡± ¡°When someone takes too much impure ether, it corrupts their sentience and slowly turns them into a madman. That¡¯s why these enforcers only consume the purest of psychic energy.¡± ¡°But aren¡¯t they already partially corrupted from ether in the past?¡± Larry nodded, ¡°On Earth, there is a facility where large quantities of pure ether are passed through psychics to clean out their ether.¡± ¡°Why can¡¯t they do it?¡± The old man smiled at Zero, ¡°Most of us don¡¯t want to give up.¡± ¡°Give what up?¡± The old man tapped the back of his neck, ¡°Control.¡± Chapter 14 - Sea of Venus(6) - Enforcer Chapter 14 - Sea of Venus(6) - Enforcer ¡°Control?¡± The old man smiled and continued to water the plants. A patch of dark blue and purple flowers with silver and golden leaves opened as he shot a small stream of water into the colorful mass. Zero asked Larry, ¡°What control?¡± Larry stared at the old man, ¡°Their all senile. Stuck in the old ways.¡± ¡°What old ways?¡± Young stared at the boy, ¡°More information that you¡¯ll get in school.¡± Zero pouted as he watched the old man finish watering the plants. Young walked over to the old man and asked something, and the old man nodded. Young turned around, ¡°Me and Larry are going to catch up. You can chat with these guys while we¡¯re gone. You¡¯re probably tired of me after an entire day.¡± Io, Jupiter. A girl squealed ¡°I can¡¯t stand the smell. When do we get to go to Lire?¡± Her father sighed, ¡°You just have to put up with it for now. Just for a few more months.¡± ¡°Months?¡± The girl kicked an oddly shaped yellow rock down the stone steps of the house, ¡°This rotten smell is nasty. How does anyone live here?¡± ¡°We¡¯re here because nobody lives here.¡± ¡°What was this place called again?¡± ¡°Tvashtar Paterae¡± The girl laughed, ¡°That sounds funny. What¡¯s the name from?¡± Her father shrugged, ¡°Some ancient Hindu god.¡± ¡°Are they as powerful as the world serpent?¡± ¡°Who knows.¡± A small rover drove up to outside the walls of the compound. The sign above the airlock flashed blue as it depressurized and then repressurized. A woman stepped in with a few dusty crates, ¡°I got food for the month.¡± The man smiled, ¡°How was it?¡± ¡°Ah. It¡¯s as usual. The contact said we¡¯re moving up our schedule.¡± ¡°Which one?¡± ¡°Contact three.¡± The man nodded and then pointed, ¡°Well we should clean up first since it stinks.¡± Outside of the compound, a jet of molten silica shot out of the ground like spring. Her mother turned around, ¡°Looks like we¡¯re not going outside for a bit.¡±This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. The father laughed, ¡°You cut it awfully close this time.¡± Orbital Ring Mira, Jupiter. A retired marine slammed a glass down on the table, ¡°How¡¯d I fucking miss em? They were right in scope!¡± ¡°Bah, the rickety old piece of junk! No wonder yah missed em. Right mate?¡± A chorus of laughter filled the bar as the soldiers drank. One of them flicked a coin towards the bartender, ¡°That¡¯s enough yeah?¡± The bartender gave a quick nod and left the room. ¡°Gather round gather round.¡± ¡°We talkin bout the new contractor?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Target¡¯s a couple.¡± ¡°They¡¯s got a daughter huh?¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± ¡°What if we urph *thwack*¡± ¡°Eyy, stop it! Contract said two targets and two only. We aint doin more work.¡± ¡°Nah.¡± The old soldiers sat in silence for a few minutes, ¡°I was thinkin of training her.¡± ¡°Oh really?¡± ¡°Yeah. She got the blood you know?¡± The other man laughed at the words. One pointed at him, ¡°You¡¯re right! Almost none of her kind left in the outers.¡± ¡°We could sell her to Pluto in the best case.¡± They collectively roared in agreement. The men finished their drinks and left a pile of credits on the table. Outside, eight heavily armed soldiers in full double plated power armor were parading a viscous translucent blob. The soldiers turned away and one muttered, ¡°Damn.¡± ¡°Shut yer trap. Stay low.¡± ¡°Gah.¡± Behind the parade were eight snake like Xenos with glowing hot armor. The soldiers stared at their shoes as the procession passed them. A rat like slave was crawling behind them waving a banner with the words, ¡°Jovian Planet Alliance Celebration.¡± Once the procession was out of view one of the soldiers sighed, ¡°When¡¯s the celebration?¡± ¡°Gah, does it matter? If we don¡¯t work we won¡¯t get any more ash.¡± The other soldiers looked gloomy at the reminder, ¡°How much time you guys got?¡± ¡°A week.¡± ¡°A month at most.¡± ¡°Two days.¡± ¡°Three days.¡± Many more numbers were yelled out among them. The soldier looked down, ¡°We¡¯re accepting the contract then?¡± ¡°We have to.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± The soldiers entered a small building. A woman with white hair and blue eyes looked up from the small wooden desk at the end of the room. She greeted them and motioned for them to sit on the floor, which half of them proceeded to do. The others leaned on the walls. She tapped a pencil on the table, ¡°I assume you¡¯re here to accept the contract.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°What is going to be the name of this mercenary group?¡± The soldier looked behind him and at the eyes of his brothers, ¡°Bloodshot Brothers.¡± The woman clasped her hands together, ¡°A fine name. Do you agree to the terms provided by the Mira Mercenary Guild?¡± The solder stared at the small woman, ¡°We need to see half the payment first.¡± ¡°Sure.¡± The woman produced a small pouch from a drawer and put it on the desk. The man picked it up and took a sniff into the pouch. He gasped, ¡°Oh shit! That¡¯s¡­ Oh my¡­¡± ¡°Satisfied?¡± ¡°Yeah. Give me the details of the contract. I know the two targets.¡± The women looked at the men with a satisfied expression, ¡°Go to Jorden C. You¡¯ll find a second war cruiser with twelve corvettes. It¡¯s loaded with pods and weapons. You¡¯ll find the details uploaded to the mainframe.¡± ¡°Where do we receive the payment?¡± ¡°After you eliminate the target, we¡¯ll talk.¡± Zero started walking down a hallway with the old man when the man pointed his cane at Zero, ¡°I¡¯ve seen kids like you before.¡± Zero looked up at him in confusion. ¡°Do you know why they call us enforcers?¡± ¡°Why?¡± The two of them arrived at an auditorium-like room with a large screen displaying a massive hologram. The man pointed up at the screen, ¡°If the military protects us from the outside, the temples is like the glue to keep the empire together.¡± ¡°Glue?¡± The old man looked at the boy, ¡°You know how a theocracy is generally more stable than a republic yes?¡± The boy stared at him, ¡°Yes?¡± The old man paused, ¡°And you know about the downfall of a theocracy. Yes?¡± ¡°The romans.¡± He nodded, ¡°The temples suppress the heretics using any means possible.¡± ¡°Suppress?¡± The old man laughed, ¡°Suppress is a strong word. If you change your faith, it isn¡¯t your fault. It¡¯s the fault of the emperor not proving himself worthy of your faith.¡± Zero was shocked, ¡°What?¡± The old man glanced at Zero, ¡°Oh yes! You¡¯ve never heard that before, right? That¡¯s just one ideology of the temple. Other branches believe in purging every heretic.¡± Zero looked at the screens, ¡°What do you do?¡± The man smiled, ¡°We vote by the case.¡± Zero watched the screens showing average citizens walking about their daily lives. ¡°What control were you talking about?¡± The old man smiled, ¡°It¡¯s a matter of preference. I didn¡¯t want to give away my body so easily.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°These are things you¡¯ll read about in school.¡± ¡°Why can¡¯t you just tell me!¡± The old man laughed, ¡°Life is long. Live while you¡¯re still alive little man.¡± Chapter 15 - Sea of Venus(7) - Princess And Sun Chapter 15 - Sea of Venus(7) - Princess And Sun Young returned on his own. ¡°You tired yet?¡± ¡®Yes?¡± Young saw the boy¡¯s eyes drooping and then shooting open as he fought to stay awake. Young chuckled, ¡°Just sleep a little. Your house is in a different zone.¡± Zero half sleepwalked out of the temple after Young threw each of the old men a credit for their supposed ¡°Hard work¡± dealing with the little boy. Orbital Ring Mira, Jupiter ¡°Where is the oxygen hose!¡± ¡°I dunno mate. You gots to find it yourself!¡± ¡°Gah.¡± The man picked up two tubes and sniffed each of them. ¡°This one.¡± ¡°How can you tell?¡± ¡°Bah. The smell of ozone.¡± A few of the other members of the Bloodshot Brothers were welding new armor plates onto the old rusty cruiser. ¡°Ay! Someone checks up on the fighters!¡± ¡°On it captain!¡± The man burst out laughing, ¡°Captain? Been a while!¡± The final checks for the cruiser were completed and the men filed into the cruiser with food supplies and ammunition. He opened the screen by rolling it out on the pilot¡¯s command consol and saw a small yellow circle on the screen. Gathering the men around him, he carefully measured out the grey dust that the woman had given him, ¡°Get your ash boys.¡± They lined up to take a pouch and exited the cockpit to go to their stations. The man smiled, ¡°Plotting trajectory to the north pole of Io.¡± Alpha Centauri side of the Sol - Alpha Centauri slipstream ¡°Damn. It¡¯s four and a fifth light years yeah?¡± ¡°Yup. Sending all this junk through the stream.¡± The two women stared at the small silver string that shot off in a straight line towards Sol. Golden capsules attached to one side seemed to disappear as they closed while incoming capsules were disengaged from the string. One of them sighed, ¡°What are we shipping this time?¡± ¡°More absorption.¡± ¡°Why would they want more of that stuff?¡± ¡°It¡¯s cheap to produce. And¡± she leaned into whisper, ¡°we can sell it to the empire for passive profits.¡± ¡°Absorption?¡± ¡°Yeah, they give us gel for each unit.¡± ¡°Gel?¡±Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°It¡¯s the stuff they produce on Terra.¡± A large viscous mass rolled near them, ¡°Your allotted time starts now.¡± A pile of metal packages started to be loaded onto the capsule. ¡°What¡¯s the quality?¡± ¡°Point two I think.¡± ¡°Wow. Pretty good stuff.¡± They started loading up the next capsule when an alarm sounded through the facility. A robotic voice spoke, ¡°Please pause the deployment of new capsules. We are passing cruisers through the slipgate at theta thirty-four. Please give at least five degrees of clearance.¡± ¡°What do you think they¡¯re sending?¡± ¡°Probably an aristocrat or something. No need to care really.¡± The woman stared up at the cruiser slowly drifting towards the slipstream, correctional pressure thrusters firing in various directions. She frowned, ¡°Now we¡¯re down to three hundred and twelve open degrees.¡± The other woman laughed, ¡°Luckily I bid on 60 degrees for the next century. I think we¡¯ll be fine.¡± ¡°Princess, what¡¯d you sell to get so many credits?¡± She smiled an evil grin, ¡°The sun.¡± Venus A-L1 Young decided to call it a day and drop Zero off at his house. At the train station in the residential area, Young flagged down an old beaten light blue car. Inside the light blue taxi was just a standard car arrangement with very worn leather seats. The only difference being that a wyrm was driving the taxi from above the steering wheel. Young slipped into the back with Zero who was half awake. Been a bit since I¡¯ve seen you around here. Young chuckled, ¡°You¡¯re acting like five years is a lot?¡± Well, that¡¯s an eighth of your life without me. ¡°Ahem. I got the stuff for you.¡± Young reached into a pocket and dropped an aluminum tube into a small hole in the glass separating the driver and passenger seats. Haha you know what I want well. Young swiped over a panel to the front of the car, ¡°This is the coordinates.¡± Ah. That house. The wyrm seemed to float out of the little round cup holder and came to a stop floating just above the steering wheel. A faint white light flowed around it as it pulsated. Ready? Young gave a thumbs up, ¡°Hit it.¡± Bunker 271L12 on Pluto ¡°Sir, the Glorbs are coming for the initial survey of Sol.¡± ¡°ETA?¡± ¡°Two weeks. Five cruisers were detected on the slipstream.¡± ¡°Keep me posted. Prepare an escort fleet of the highest quality.¡± ¡°Yes sir!¡± ¡°Show me the details of the cruiser fleet.¡± The officer swiped a panel up to a large screen. Glord Gero Five cruisers of Glorb design with only Glorb habitation in mind. Absurd radiation shielding with a .5 quality shield generator. Energy signatures estimate a .8 ether reactor in the main vessel and .5 in the remaining four escorts. Each cruiser is armed with 3 spinal rail guns that are approximately 50 meters long with eight .3 chargers. The armaments for the five cruisers are described below. Glord Gero ¨C Undocumented Glorb Cruiser #782 type P1 3 Spinal railguns 12 External Hatches 4 ~.8 ether reactors 5 ~.53 Reflection Shield ~1000 kg of solid 95% ether (HL: 5000 years) Standard Glorb Propulsion ~.4 Overall ship quality rating: .65-.7 Escort 1,2,3,4 ¨C Undocumented Glorb Cruiser #782 type A1 3 Spinal railguns 8 Undocumented Glorb Turret #15 2 ~.5 ether reactors 2 ~.37 Reflection Shield Cargo Hidden Standard Glorb Propulsion ~.34 Overall ship quality rating: .4-.42 Identical readings suggest scan obfuscation. Fleet quality exceeds the .5 threshold, high threat. Dangerous. The man started up at the screen, ¡°Has Lua noticed?¡± The officer nodded. Pointing up at the screen the man muttered, ¡°95% on .8. That¡¯s comical.¡± ¡°This fleet is from the Hyades Cluster.¡± ¡°So what are they here for?¡± ¡°They want to establish a trade for ash and ether gel.¡± The man¡¯s eyes widened, ¡°Then why send a big shot?¡± ¡°Intelligence states this Glorb is the equivalent of a Baron.¡± ¡°Oh wow. Fancy. A space baron. Back to the ancient era huh? But now we¡¯re the barbarians.¡± ¡°Sol is a new system. It detached from the network 30 million years ago. The Baron is probably looking for an opportunity with a high ether producing system far from the eyes of the galactic core.¡± ¡°What about the other factions?¡± ¡°According to the oligarchs, their envoys will be arriving periodically within the next hundred years.¡± The man nodded, ¡°What¡¯s our trajectory?¡± ¡°Trajectory?¡± ¡°Pluto.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll be ready in a hundred and eighty-three years.¡± ¡°I assume we will host the envoys until then.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± The man nodded, ¡°If they¡¯re still alive. We¡¯ll have to put on a good show. The Republic and Empire are depending on it.¡± Earth, Main temple of the empire. Year ~4576. Dr. Fritz tapped his foot on the floor as he scribbled away on a blank sheet of paper. In front of him, three marble sized balls rolled around in an ashtray. He scribbled some notes and heard the clacking of the balls hitting each other. He slammed his hand down on the ashtray, ¡°Stop moving.¡± A high-pitched whistling shrieked behind him from a pot above a flickering fire that was coming out of his free hand. Dr. Fritz stared at the paper, ¡°This doesn¡¯t add up. What am I missing?¡± He took out his cigarette and tapped it into the ash tray and picked up one of the green and blue marble now coated in a layer of ash. He remarked, ¡°It¡¯s almost like a white dwarf.¡± Dr. Fritz¡¯s eyes opened wide, ¡°White dwarf.¡± Chapter 16 - Sea of Venus(8) - Home Chapter 16 - Sea of Venus(8) - Home Intergalactic law states that a system that is newly introduced to a cycle of the slip stream network will have a 25,000-year grace period before any wars can be fought to conquer them. During this time frame, factions close to the new gateway may send surveyors and trading fleets without military escorts. As soon as the grace period is over or any celestial object in the system has a transfer of ownership outside the indigenous population, all restrictions and bans on gateway entry are lifted. If the system in question holds great strategic military value, it may be subjected to a neutral zone agreement left up to the discretion of the indigenous population. All factions interested in the territory must send an envoy to participate in the ruling of the neutral zone. Venus A-L, Current Time The door creaked open and the cold artificial light from the sky frame of the level streamed through the door. Zero stuck his head through the door and looked around. He lightly stepped onto the tile and looked into the house. A thick grey doorless doorframe placed on top of a small wooden half step to enter the house. He saw three pairs of boots chaotically thrown on top of some strange black mat and figured he should put his shoes there too. Above the shoes a metal bar with strange wooden objects in the shape of a V. They had a wire strung between the ends of the V and some red and black coats were placed delicately on each one. Zero moved one of them around and stared at the object in bewilderment. What was this strange thing? One of the coats was sliding off the object as it slowly swayed back and forth. Two black briefcases with glowing red locks on them were on the other side of the entrance. Above them was a shelf with a candle. It gave off a distinct scent but wasn¡¯t overwhelming. On the glass cylindrical container, a sticker reading ¡°Rose¡± flashed out in large bold letters. The boy kicked off his shoes and shut the door behind him. Inside the house was a polished plank floor with light grey walls and a set of two staircases on the right side. On the left was a doorway to another room and down the corridor was a larger room with a piano that could be seen from the entrance. The boy stepped up the half step and peered up the stairs. A high-pitched giggle reverberated from the room behind him, and he spun around to see a tall and thin woman in a black body suit. Her hair was a muddy red and brown with piercing red eyes that shined like rubies. A black gas mask with a large silver V covered the bottom half of her face. The faint sound of breaths could be heard as she breathed through the mask. The woman clicked a button on the side of her chin and the gas mask seemed to fade away from where she touched it. Zero awkwardly started. What do you say in this situation? Walked into a house you¡¯ve never seen before and find some woman that you¡¯ve never seen before who is staring right at you. A myriad of questions ran through his mind as he pondered what he should say. Zero opened his mouth to speak and in a shaky voice blurted out, ¡°Who are you?¡± Not what he wanted to say. It was too late. The words had already come out of his mouth. He quickly turned his head to look down the corridor instead of looking at how the woman reacted. ¡°I¡¯m your mother.¡± Zero¡¯s face twitched as he froze. ¡°My mother?¡± he thought. He squished his face together.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°You¡¯re not my mother!¡± ¡°How do you know that?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve never had a mother before.¡± ¡°Hello?¡± Zero¡¯s eyes snapped open, and he staggered slightly as the woman¡¯s voice pierced through his daydreaming. ¡°I don¡¯t have a mother.¡± Zero quickly covered his mouth. Another sentence that came out wrong. The woman stared at him with sad eyes. He felt foot twitch as if trying to force him forward. He looked down to see his foot step forward. ¡°Stop! Stop moving!¡± He cleared the doorway to the kitchen in which the woman was sitting. In front of him was a glass table with three white chairs that seemed to glow from the light streaming through the open window behind the woman. The room almost seemed to come straight out of an ancient painting or photo. A soft glow shined behind the woman. Zero awkwardly walked up to the table and stared at a chair. ¡°Well, sit down?¡± Zero reached down to grab the chair but his arm raised as if waiting for a hug. The woman¡¯s eyes widened as she looked in astonishment. Zero¡¯s face contorted into a mix of confusion and fear. He could feel his face flush. His head felt like someone was striking it with a mallet while his face felt like it was being stuck into a pot of boiling water. His legs shook as he lost control of muscle after muscle to some unknown force. Zero closed his eyes and could hear faint screams from within his skull. He felt something warm envelope him and all the pain and screaming subsided. I am... Good. Phobos before the Fracture (4500) unknown time. ¡°Dr. Fritz! Long time no see!¡± A bright middle-aged man clasped the other¡¯s hand, ¡°Good to see you Harper. Ah! Here¡¯s my grandson!¡± Harper looked at the other side of the table, ¡°The future for humanity is bright. You¡¯ve done well.¡± Gaius nodded, "Thank you sir." Dr. Fritz glanced at Gaius, ¡°Are you okay with this?¡± Gaius breathed in, ¡°I- I guess.¡± Dr. Fritz nodded towards Harper, ¡°Give us the rundown.¡± Harper stood up and walked towards a blackboard and pulled a fresh piece of chalk out of a cardboard box. Harper drew a quick sketch of a human body silhouette. He pointed at the head, ¡°What¡¯s the name of this experiment?¡± The room went silent, and Harper turned his head to stare at Gaius. ¡°Me?¡± A quick nod from Harper and Gaius leaned forward with both hands clasped together in his lap, ¡°Psychic Amplification Experiment.¡± Harper nodded, ¡°So what are we amplifying?¡± Gaius stared at the diagram, ¡°Subconscious control.¡± Harper flashed a smile, ¡°Good. What is the best way to change the subconscious?¡± ¡°Mental trauma.¡± Harper nodded, ¡°Yes. The goal is to change your subconscious enough times your brain grasps the concept of manipulation of this so-called subconsciousness.¡± ¡°What would that feel like?¡± Harper grinned a wide smile, ¡°You¡¯ll feel like you¡¯re a god.¡± Dr. Fritz leaned over the table, ¡°Are you sure you want to do this?¡± Gaius stared at his grandpa, ¡°When dad was deployed did you ask the same question?¡± Dr. Fritz looked away and frowned, ¡°Sure.¡± Gaius looked up towards Harper, ¡°What¡¯s the procedure?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll progressively increase the mental trauma and after each event we will send signals into your brain to erase all traces of the memory.¡± Gaius leaned back in his chair and spun towards the wall, ¡°So, what would the predicted results be?¡± Harper stared at the ground for a few seconds, ¡°We- We don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the worst that could happen?¡± ¡°Your subconscious crumbles and we are forced to regrow your ego before reinjecting the stored memories.¡± Gaius leaned forward in the chair covering his face in his hands, ¡°Wow.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have to do thi- ¡° ¡°Gramps, I am doing this because we have no choice. The republic is no more without a strategic unit.¡± ¡°It does-¡° ¡°It doesn¡¯t have to be me? Well shit! You already know that only I can survive the tests.¡± Gaius slammed his foot on the floor spinning the chair around towards the table, ¡°The rebels are closing in and there¡¯s thousands of nuclear missiles pointed at us in orbit. Are you fucking kidding me right now?¡± ¡°Calm down Gai- ¡° ¡°What do you mean calm down? It¡¯s always been ¡®Oh cute grandson try this!¡¯ or ¡®Oh cute grandson help your grandpa with this experiment!¡¯ like what the hell! I¡¯m tired. I¡¯m supposed to be two-thousand years old, but I only have access to seventy-two years of it. Does that sound okay to you?¡± Dr. Fritz stared at the table as silence set it. Harper raised his hand, ¡°Why don¡¯t you tw- ¡° ¡°Shut up,¡± snapped Dr. Fritz. All three of them stared at the middle of the table as they took in Gaius¡¯s outburst. Gaius looked up at Harper, ¡°Okay so what¡¯s the best case?¡± Harper hesitantly turned back to the board, ¡°An increase of point one efficiency to point nine efficiency.¡± Gaius nodded, ¡°From ninety percent loss to 10 percent. Nine percent increase. That¡¯s¡­ insane.¡± Dr. Fritz added, ¡°Remember it¡¯s logarithmic. It¡¯s a billion times better.¡± Gaius put his hands on the table in fists, ¡°So¡­ When do we start?¡± Chapter 17 - Sea of Venus(9) - I am… Chapter 17 - Sea of Venus(9) - I am¡­ Harper turned towards the table, ¡°Are you sure you¡¯re ready?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± A tight-fitting helmet was placed on top of the standard issue military armor. Dr. Fritz handed Gaius a small glowing knife and pressed his hand on Gaius¡¯s shoulder, ¡°Are you sure?¡± Gaius stared into his grandfather¡¯s eyes. Dr. Fritz closed his eyes with his hand as he walked away, ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯ll fix this once it¡¯s all over.¡± Harper looked into Gaius¡¯s visor, ¡°Once you enter the experiment room, we won¡¯t be able to help you. Set a control phrase.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°You have any preferences?¡± ¡°Not really. What do you think?¡± ¡°Guardian obeys.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Harper grinned, ¡°It is simple and effective. Perfect as a control phrase for the experiment.¡± Gaius turned towards the hatched and slid into the experimental chamber, "Thanks for helping.¡± Harper glanced at the figure of Dr. Fritz walking outside the room, ¡°Good luck kid.¡± A small hatch opened, and Gaius leapt down into the translucent room. The bright white lights flicked off and a deep blue flood light illuminated the room. A small hole opened in the ceiling. A robotic voice reverberated inside the helmet, ¡°Trial one. Trial name. Chicken soup.¡± A chicken floated down from the ceiling on a small robot. The voice spoke, ¡°Kill it.¡± Gaius looked down at the chicken and at the faintly glowing blue knife in his hand. He gripped the handle of the knife in his right hand and grabbed the erratically moving chicken¡¯s neck with his left hand. *Thunk* The knife stopped at the bone of the chicken. Black liquid dripped out of the chicken¡¯s neck as it grew limp. Gaius¡¯s lip curled as he took his hand off the knife to find it fully lodged in the chicken¡¯s neck. He looked up at the ceiling. ¡°Kill it Guardian.¡± Gaius stared at the chicken. Wasn¡¯t it dead already? What more did it want? Did it want the chicken to be¡­ more dead? Gaius reversed his grip on the knife and with his thumb squished the bottom of it. A soft buzzing sound that slowly grew louder filled the room and seconds later a splatter of black liquid coated the chamber. A coat of black stained feathers were glued to the walls of the chamber from dried liquid. Gaius looked up and saw feathers slowly floating to the ground. He watched them fall to the black ground. It was as if snow was being consumed by a void. ¡°Trial one clear. No signs of enlightenment. Proceeding with trial two. Trial name. Slice of bacon.¡± A small platform floated down weird straight piece of flesh. Gaius couldn¡¯t recognize it from the blue light. ¡°Slice it.¡± Gaius stared at the piece of flesh. How to slice it? What does slice mean? Slice in half? Slice it into how big of a piece. Gaius looked at the knife, did it matter? Gaius held down the piece of meat with his left hand and raised the dagger over his head.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. *Spltch* Gaius moved his thumb over the back of the dagger and breathed in. Was this a slice? *Sqltch* Black liquid sprayed in every direction coating the whole room in a viscous layer of liquid. Gaius looked down and noticed the liquid had reached his ankles. Small minced chunks of the meat and chicken floated about in the liquid but where hard to make out in the sea of darkness. Gaius almost laughed at how close the liquid looked to the night sky. Black and littered with little dots. Gaius noticed a larger piece of meat and picked it up to inspect it. Gaius staggered back dropping the chunk of meat. A human fingernail. What was that? Was that in the chicken? Did he vaporize an arm? What happened? ¡°Trial two clear. Insignificant signs of enlightenment. Proceeding with trial three. Trial name. Appendage processing.¡± Gaius stared at his hands, covered in thick black liquid, and laughed, ¡°Am I also part of this nothingness?¡± A floating platform lowered down the silhouette of a naked man who was bleeding out of a missing left arm. The man¡¯s screams reverberated through the chamber sending ripples across the black ocean. ¡°Remove the appendages.¡± Gaius stared at the man and then back at the knife. Was this necessary? Mental trauma? This was more like some stupid experiment. What was the point of it? ¡°Detecting significant signs of enlightenment. Aiding process. Injecting motor commands.¡± Gaius¡¯s eyes jerked open, and he could feel his body moving against his will. The knife sliced off the man¡¯s right arm and he collapsed backwards screaming. As black liquid drained out of the severed arm, the man¡¯s face slowly sank into the liquid until he was fully submerged. Gaius¡¯s arms were raised above his head as he leaned over the man. *Tshck* *Ptshck* Gaius¡¯s eyes were crying from the helmet forcing them to stay open. Suddenly it released control. ¡°Process three unprocessed pieces of meat.¡± Gaius¡¯s eyes widened again as the computer injected signals into his spinal cord. *Sqltch* His left hand slammed the back of the dagger. *Splat* *Sqltch* *Splat* *Sqltch* *Splat* Gaius fell backwards as the computer stopped sending signals. Catching his breath, he stood up again. ¡°Kill it.¡± Gaius stared up at the ceiling, ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Kill it Guardian.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Procedure four. Experiment rejecting orders. Executing procedure four.¡± Gaius felt his neck jerk back as his head yanked upright. The knife set in front of him right where the man¡¯s heart was. His body automatically moved over the man and his hand reached out to grab the now dead man¡¯s head. *Snap* A bone chilling snap filled the air as his hand twisted the man¡¯s head around to face him. He couldn¡¯t make out anything except for the smooth figure of a human face because black viscous liquid covered the face. *Sqltch* The knife pierced the dead man¡¯s body. The computer released Gaius from control. ¡°Kill it.¡± ¡°Why do I have to do this shit? This is so fucked up.¡± ¡°Kill it Guardian.¡± Gaius started standing up when suddenly his body went limp collapsing to his knees over the dead man. The black liquid had drained enough to see two blue pupils staring directly into his visor. Gaius noticed the knife in front of him. His body was perfectly in balance above the dead man. ¡°Kill it.¡± ¡°Let me go! Stop this bullshit!¡± ¡°Kill it Gua- ¡° ¡°I didn¡¯t agr t-ugh¡± Gaius fell limp and felt his thigh twitch. His gut twisted. *Splat* Black liquid spewed out of where the man¡¯s mouth and eyes once were covering the ceiling with black liquid. Gaius couldn¡¯t tell which direction was what anymore. It was all an endless black void. Two eyeballs floated on the top of the shin high black liquid. The blue pupils seemed to pierce right through his protective body suit. A piece of something floated by him as he staggered to his feet. He couldn¡¯t tell if it was chicken or¡­ something else. ¡°Well done Guardian. Trial three complete. Significant signs of enlightenment. Experiment is running better than predictions. Proceeding to trial four. Trial name. Slaughterhouse.¡± Gaius looked up in horror as a silhouette of seven human shaped objects were placed inside the chamber. Gaius collapsed to the ground in disbelief, ¡°This¡­ can¡¯t be true. None of the other ones were like this. What the hell is th- ¡° His eyes rolled back as his body collapsed backwards into the black pool of liquid. ¡°Subject experiencing entry stages of enlightenment. System control authorized. Proceeding with experiment.¡± As if in a trance, Gaius came from laying on the ground to standing, black liquid dripping down his body suit. ¡°Guardian, slaughter it.¡± ¡°Guardian has passed all forty trials. Disconnecting direct neural access. Success. Reconnecting to network. Success. Transferring pertinent data.¡± Black liquid came up to his shoulders as he stood as still as a statue in the center of the chamber. Unknown chunks of flesh floated past him as eyes and other pieces slowly started back at him. Unblinking. In the speakers, Dr.Fritz screamed, ¡°Gaius! Gaius! You still there?¡± yes ¡°Oh thank the gods! We¡¯ll get you out. How are you feeling?¡± Gaius closed his eyes and could hear faint screams from within his skull. He felt something warm envelope him and all the pain and screaming subsided. I am... God. Chapter 18 - Sea of Venus(10) - Fractured Mind Chapter 18 - Sea of Venus(10) - Fractured Mind I don¡¯t really know what to say. This feeling¡­ It¡¯s like floating down after jumping out of a plane. The streaks of wind cut at your face as you plummet towards certain doom. Suddenly a jerk hits your back and you float to the ground. The weather is pretty nice today. The breeze wraps me up like a cocoon as I drift to the soft grass like a feather. I grab the gun hanging at my waist to inspect it for the mission. Strange. It doesn¡¯t look like a gun at all. What is this? My eyes shot open. Hand on the back of my head. Freezing cold. What the fuck is happening? Ice cube. Water. ¡°Urmmph!¡± ¡°Oh! He¡¯s back.¡± Eyes blurry. Two grey splotches in front of me. What is this? I must be seeing things. ¡°Um¡­ Hello? Gaius?¡± Who¡¯s Gaius¡­ wait¡­ Gaius? A bell. Ringing. Plane. Mushroom. Death My eyes shot open. Hand on the back of my head. Wait. I¡¯ve seen this. Freezing cold. Tastes stale. Yuck. Ice cube. No. Crushed ice. ¡°Urmmph!¡± Eyes blurry. Hand move to wipe them. Hand move to wipe them. Hand move to wipe them. Han- What¡¯s that black stick with red and orange bumps? My hand? No. Hand move to wipe them. Ha- That¡¯s my arm. My eyes shot open. Hand on back of my head. Again? Not freezing again. It hurts. ¡°Urmmph!¡± Eyes blurry. What to do? I can¡¯t solve it. Must stop them. ¡°Stop.¡±Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Eyes blurry. Two red splotches in front of me. What is this? I must be seeing things. ¡°St-oprufffghhhh¡± ¡°Har-per?¡± ¡°ACK! AUGHH!¡± Blurry red oval on the ground. What¡¯s that? Oh. It¡¯s blood. *Thud* Zero opened his eyes and found himself leaning over the glass table. Loud crackling noises could be heard from in front of him as he rubbed his eyes and stretched his back. The strange woman that claimed to be his mom was holding this big black circular bowl with a metal handle. Green and brown pieces of food sizzled on the bowl as she rocked it back and forth in the air. The food looked just like a wave gradually rolling and then crashing on the upper lip of the bowl to be forced back into the depths. A pain shot through Zero¡¯s skull. The woman scraped the food onto a ceramic plate using a rubber stick and handed the plate to Zero, ¡°Eat.¡± Zero stared at the weird pile of shapes, ¡°Uh¡­¡± The woman placed the object into the sink and sat next to him with another plate of food in her hands for herself. Zero stared at the strange brown and green colors on his plate. ¡°Where¡¯s the straw?¡± ¡°Straw?¡± Zero rocked back and forth in the chair, ¡°Um¡­ The tube you suck food through.¡± The woman stared at Zero, ¡°Have you only been eating paste?¡± ¡°Pae- ACK AUGHHH URFGHHH¡± The woman¡¯s eyes widened, ¡°Calm down!¡± Zero¡¯s eyes rolled back as his body shook in the chair. A deep purple light poured out of his eyes. ¡°Shit.¡± The woman picked up a piece of broccoli, squished it into a paste, and shoved it down Zero¡¯s throat. As she took her arm out of Zero¡¯s mouth Zero¡¯s body went limp. ¡°Ah. Did I shove it too hard?¡± The woman looked at the boy. There was still purple light. The woman sighed, ¡°Well. That didn¡¯t go as planned.¡± Year 4601. First year of the inquisition. Later known as the First Inquisition. I don¡¯t know what to think about those inquisitor bastards. It¡¯s been a year and it¡¯s almost like they¡¯re trying to steal our jobs. I can¡¯t believe the doctor would be fine with that. ¡°Hey Gaius. You good?¡± I snapped out of it, ¡°Yeah? What is it?¡± ¡°You¡¯re benched again.¡± ¡°What!¡± This couldn¡¯t be possible. Me? I¡¯m the first guardian. I could solve any problem. What was it I couldn¡¯t finish. I saw an inquisitor with a grey veil and dark blue cloak leaning against the wall. I stood up and approached them. ¡°Hey. You.¡± Two piercing green eyes stared back at me. ¡°I know you have ears.¡± The circles under the dark hood continued staring at me. Ugh. ¡°What is this whole operation about?¡± The figure shrugged. ¡°You¡¯re literally an inquisitor. How could you not know?¡± The figure looked away from me. That bastard. He¡¯s not gonna tell me unless I force it. Aight. That¡¯s what you want. Let¡¯s do it your way. I stomped my foot on the ground leaving a boot sized imprint, ¡°Tell me.¡± The figure glanced over at another inquisitor on the opposite side of the hallway. He shook his head. This wasn¡¯t going anywhere. Should I pull out the prototype? Fuck it. I unclipped a dark blue dagger from my belt, ¡°You want to go at it?¡± Two green dots stared at me. Well shit. He really wants me to stab him. I¡¯m not a pussy. I¡¯ll do it. I raise the dagger above my head, ¡°Last chance.¡± ¡°Hey Gaius, calm down. Talk it out first.¡± That stupid Guardian. How is he okay with someone stepping on our authority. Newbies these days. Geez. Fine. A stab you want. A stab you will get. *Thunk* No flesh. What? Hand on my wrist. Ah. The other Inquisitor stopped me. Surprisingly strong. It was a weak stab either way. His wrist is twisting funny. I think I broke it. A high-pitched voice screamed in my ear, ¡°Stop this nonsense!¡± I held in a laugh, ¡°Ah. So, you¡¯re a squeaker.¡± The white robed inquisitor shook as he grabbed his right arm with his left. He for sure broke it. Wait. That¡¯s no man. Fuck. ¡°Why are you doing this?¡± I don¡¯t know. I just wanted to. What to say. Let¡¯s just go with this, ¡°I¡¯m mad.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Nobody will tell me why I can¡¯t be deployed.¡± The woman stared at me. That¡¯s a strange yellow eye color. Wait. That¡¯s not yellow. Gold¡­ Gold eyes? Well. Fuck me. I just broke the wrist of a saint. Whatever. What¡¯s done is done. The woman opened her mouth, ¡°Do you really want to know?¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± ¡°Even if it kills you?¡± I laughed. How could knowing kill me? That was a funny statement, ¡°Hahaa. You jest much.¡± ¡°No.¡± I leaned towards her, ¡°So are you going to tell me?¡± ¡°Fine.¡± I waited for a second for the grand reveal. ¡°Chicken.¡± Chicken. What¡¯s that? Wait¡­ chicken. Feathered bird. Egg. Chicken leg. Chicken Thigh. Chicken breast. Chicken. Bacon. Slaughter. Chicken. Blood. Chicken. Nail. Chicken. Eye. Chicken. Toung. What¡¯s chicken. What are these words. An image flashed through my head. It hurts. My head. My head is cracking. My eyes burn. I can¡¯t rub them. Why? Arm. Rub. Arm? Black stick. That¡¯s¡­. Arm? No¡­ That¡¯s ACK AUGH. *BOOM* ¡°So, Amanda, what happened to Gaius when you told him about the bird.¡± A woman in a white robe and golden eyes looked at Dr. Fritz, ¡°The stored ether in his brain exploded. He died instantly.¡± ¡°And what of Phobos?¡± ¡°Gone. Compressed into a tiny mass.¡± Dr. Fritz grimaced, ¡°This is why I wanted to avoid it. Why¡¯d you tell him?¡± ¡°He was about to kill a sacrifice.¡± Dr. Fritz looked over at Amanda, ¡°So what of your wrist?¡± Amanda pointed up at the tube in the middle of the room, ¡°That monster broke it.¡± Dr. Fritz sighed, ¡°This is why we¡¯re erasing it.¡± Amanda sat down on a stool, ¡°So how are you covering this up?¡± ¡°We¡¯re seizing all civilian bolt guns. The politicians wanted that a while ago so it¡¯s a perfect cover up.¡± Amanda shook her head, ¡°All because of the word chicken.¡± Chapter 19 - Sea of Venus(11) - A Bad Omen Chapter 19 - Sea of Venus(11) - A Bad Omen Zero woke up at the table. The woman was at the sink washing the weird object. Zero sat there awkwardly, wondering what he should do. Get up? Then what. That would be weird. She obviously didn¡¯t know he was now awake. What to do? Ugh. ¡°You¡¯re up?¡± Oh. She knew. Zero stood up and looked at her. Her right eyes seemed to pierce into his mind as if reading his thoughts. ¡°You better eat before it gets cold.¡± Zero looked at the plate of food, ¡°Where¡¯s the straw?¡± The woman sighed, ¡°Think a little harder, I injected some common sense into you.¡± Suddenly information flooded into his mind. He picked up a silver piece of metal, ¡°Fork?¡± The woman stared at Zero, ¡°You know this. I released the seal.¡± ¡°Ah thanks.¡± Zero paused, ¡°What? What seal?¡± The woman didn¡¯t say anything. Zero took a bite. The food was pretty good. Wait. How did he know it was good? He looked at the woman, ¡°So you¡¯re my mother?¡± ¡°Unfortunately.¡± Zero was confused, ¡°What is even happening?¡± Aria glanced at Zero, ¡°The final cycle.¡± Zero¡¯s head twitched as he ate another bite of meat, ¡°Why are you so¡­ what¡¯s the word¡­¡± ¡°Enigmatic?¡± ¡°Yeah. That¡¯s the word. How¡¯d you know.¡± The woman picked up a towel, ¡°I see it.¡± ¡°It?¡± ¡°The unresolved distribution of probability waveforms.¡± Zero stared at the woman, ¡°Couldn¡¯t you just say the future?¡± ¡°That¡¯s wrong.¡± ¡°Who cares about specifics?¡± The woman stared at Zero, ¡°Are you really five? Get out of my son¡¯s body.¡± ¡°Your son¡¯s bo- AUGH.¡± Zero¡¯s eyes snapped wide, he dropped his fork on the ground, ¡°Ah!¡± The woman walked over to him with another plate of food and a new fork, ¡°Here.¡± Zero stared at her, ¡°Who are you?¡± She sat down next to him, ¡°I¡¯m Aria. What¡¯s your name?¡± The boy sat in uncomfortable silence, ¡°Zero?¡± ¡°Do you still not know?¡± Zero nodded. Aria sighed, ¡°Eat. Your food.¡±This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. The food tasted good. Io, Jupiter ¡°Get on the shuttle. Quick!¡± The little girl and her mother stepped up onto the small drone. Above them, a destroyer hovered above the surface. ¡°Honey, who sent this craft?¡± ¡°Uh. Two did.¡± The mother looked up, ¡°I thought they cut you off?¡± ¡°We don¡¯t have a choice. The other two went silent.¡± ¡°Silent?¡± The family squished themselves into the drone. The ground shuddered as a small explosion launched the drone into the air. ¡°It¡¯s an automated ship. We know that the branch wants us captured so they can¡¯t do anything to us.¡± ¡°Where is it headed?¡± The man smiled, ¡°Earth.¡± On the retired cruiser manned by the Bloodshot Brothers ¡°We¡¯re exiting high speed drift in five seconds! Brace for deceleration!¡± The retired soldiers all flipped a switch on their body suits. It squeezed their bodies during the deceleration and hardened all their cybernetic parts to ensure that the extreme force of 30 to 50 times normal gravity would become bearable. Old cruisers didn¡¯t have inertial dampeners. The technology was a waste of ether and ether wasn¡¯t so abundant in the first era of space combat. ¡°Target two hundred kilometers from the north pole of Io!¡± ¡°Setting target velocity to three thousand meters per second!¡± ¡°Affirmative!¡± ¡°Brace for deceleration!¡± A large rumbling sound was heard as the entire craft shook. Explosions rang out from the rear of the ship as the impulse thrusters fired at maximum capacity. The crew members could feel each explosion as the rhythm resonated with their heart beats. A robot voice filled the craft, ¡°Deceleration halting in five seconds.¡± In the window, steaks of white dots could be seen in the red tinted light of the front window. The captain struggled to turn his head to peek behind himself. A beautiful blue mass of light that was the sun filled the rear window and seemed to fill the command module in a cool refreshing light. ¡°Cruise velocity of three thousand meters per second.¡± The restraints on the crew¡¯s bodies were released. The captain gasped for air, ¡°Damn. This tin can is killing me.¡± One of the men screamed, ¡°We¡¯re off by four deviations!¡± ¡°Shit. Old tech out of calibration.¡± The captain looked up at the navigation. The target was 200 km but they ended up at 352 km at an angle that was almost 30 degrees off. He looked at the captain, ¡°How we gonna turn her?¡± The captain ran through some simulations in his mind, ¡°We¡¯re rotating impulse thrusters to create a centripetal force! Someone get on the navigation computer!¡± The group watched as the angle slowly ticked up from 30 in the thousands place. ¡°Hurry!¡± ¡°I¡¯m on its captain!¡± The captain looked over at the other side of the room, ¡°What¡¯s our fuel looking like?¡± ¡°Pressure stable! We still have half a tank of hydrogen and oxygen.¡± ¡°Good. Brace for impact burns!¡± He gave a thumbs up to the crew member up on the navigation seat and he clicked a button on the screen, ¡°We¡¯re rotating!¡± All the men felt themselves getting pushed into the back of their seats as the entire vessel spun around the control module. ¡°Burning!¡± A series of fifteen explosions were heard from the rear of the ship. ¡°Returning orientation!¡± The whole ship lurched as it spun around so that its rear was facing Io. The crew looked through the window as the small dot grew nearer. The shadow of Jupiter loomed over them like a freezing specter as they followed a loose orbital trajectory towards Io. ¡°Final burn! Brace for deceleration!¡± The last deceleration commenced and then the crew finally breathed a sigh of relief. The captain stood up, ¡°Men, we¡¯re landing.¡± He entered the air lock and waved some of the other men into the drop room of a Hornet-X corvette. He looked at the weapons, ¡°Oh shit! This stuff is brand new.¡± ¡°Hornet-X too. Remember the to turn on the stealth shield.¡± The pilot nodded. Stealth was a specialty of X series crafts. With a soft thud, the craft was launched by a jet of used gas out of the vessel and directly towards Io. The pilot looked over his shoulder, ¡°We¡¯re reaching the drop zone. Get ready to deploy in thirty seconds.¡± The captain nodded, ¡°Let¡¯s start the briefing. We¡¯ll do it republic style. Fire teams of three. Squads of twelve. Support for each fire team. Channels on spades, clubs, hearts, diamonds. Choose your team leader from impact survival. Remember to use the ash if necessary. Yall ready?¡± A roar shook the small vessel as the floor below them opened up to reveal the emptiness of space. The pilot had already sealed the chamber of the drop module. A green circle appeared as a hologram in the men¡¯s helmets. ¡°Dropping in 2 seconds.¡± A light lit up in front of the captain and he leapt out of the craft into the open air. A small burst of gas pushed him downwards at a high speed. He quickly tapped an orange button on a panel to check if his jetpack was functioning. *Pshhht* He continued to freefall towards the green circle on the ground as the corvette zoomed off to support from afar. ¡°Warning, you are 500 meters above the ground. Consider slowing down.¡± He slammed the orange button and clenched his jaw. The sound of his teeth chattering from the ripples of forces sent echoes through his bones. He touched the ground and staggered forward. ¡°Damn. Rough landing. Pods are so much easier.¡± He linked up to the network transmission, ¡°Squad leader is active. Report.¡± 11 other lights lit up as human shaped figures walked into the crater that was marked with a green circle. The captain smiled, ¡°Lets make some money boys.¡± Chapter 20 - Sea of Venus(12) - Interception Chapter 20 - Sea of Venus(12) - Interception ¡°Team leaders. Status!¡± ¡°Diamonds suffered minor burns.¡± ¡°Clubs no damage.¡± ¡°Hearts have a sore neck.¡± All twelve of the men laughed, ¡°How sore?¡± ¡°Ah! As sore as a Flare in debt.¡± The whole squad roared in laughter through the communications channel. ¡°We¡¯re two kilometers north of the target. Each team will boost to within three hundred meters of the outer perimeter. We set up blast charges. Boom. Run in. Eliminate. Yeah?¡± He looked around at the other men, ¡°Watch out for the silica geysers. They¡¯ll go right through these metal rags. Get in position, move it move it!¡± The sound of twelve jetpacks firing up in quick succession made the crater rumble as the sound echoed off its walls. A bright blue hologram with a distance above it was projected into every member¡¯s helmets. The captain ducked down inside a crater. A large column of molten silica cascaded behind him as he pulled the pins out of an explosive charge. ¡°Everyone in position?¡± ¡°Affirmative.¡± ¡°Target locked.¡± ¡°Ready when you are.¡± The captain smiled; he took spades to the far side of the compound. One of the men in his team screwed a tube onto another tube. The captain shoved the spherical charge down the tube. The mortar operator nodded. The captain screamed into the communication channel, ¡°Fire!¡± A series of four explosions rang across the barren landscape of Io. *Shatter* Cracks ran up along the dome that contained the biosphere. Gas and loose objects flew out of the pressurized sphere as it was exposed to the thin atmosphere of Io. The men could feel the breeze blow for a few seconds and then it all died down to an uncomfortable silence. ¡°Can we get thermal scans?¡± ¡°Negative. Io is too hot for thermal scans.¡± The captain cursed, ¡°Push up to the compound wall. I¡¯ll count down for breach.¡± He crawled over to the edge of the compound. He heard a faint siren sound blaring inside the compound, but the atmosphere was too thin to properly hear it. ¡°Shit, an alarm.¡± A broken voice spoke into the channel, ¡°Hearts has spotted hostiles. At fifty meters.¡± ¡°Hold!¡± ¡°Copy.¡± The captain took a small reflective square and pointed it around the corner. ¡°Spades are clear. Diamonds and clubs report.¡± ¡°All clear.¡±If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Clubs spotted Hostile one.¡± ¡°Spades and diamonds breach on count. Diamonds and clubs execute hostile one.¡± ¡°Yes captain!¡± The captain fumbled the square into a pocket and unclipped a blue repeater rifle from his rig, ¡°Three. Two. One. Breach! Breach! Breach!¡± The three members of the spades team sprinted out from the breach in the compound wall into an empty opening. ¡°Deploy cover!¡± One of them slammed a white box on the floor and pulled a handle on top unfolding the box into a large riot shield. ¡°Push push! Fire on sight!¡± The captain could hear popping noises from the other side of the compound. ¡°Hostile one eliminated. No damage.¡± The captain smiled, ¡°Clubs and spades breach bunker. Diamonds and hearts on overwatch.¡± ¡°Yes captain!¡± The captain jerked his head to the side, ¡°Prep the frame breach charges.¡± One of the spades pulled a small square package out of a pocket and slapped it on the door, ¡°Breach charge primed.¡± ¡°Clubs ready?¡± ¡°Affirmative.¡± ¡°Breach! Breach! Breach!¡± *Boom* The door caved inwards as the frame of the door was sent flying off into orbit. The captain flicked a light switch and entered the large room. He looked around, no signs of life. He looked up and saw five red lasers pointed at him from the ceiling. He raised his rifle up revealing five empty machine gun sentry turrets with blinking red lights indicating self-destruction sequences. ¡°Shit. We¡¯re late.¡± *Boom* ¡°Ahh! What is that sound?¡± The girl¡¯s mother held her tightly, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Mommy and daddy will keep you safe.¡± The little girl looked out the window to see the trail of metal debris coming off the last main thruster of the destroyer. Red warning lights flashed through the ship as the destroyer careened through the asteroid belt. *ding* ¡°Who is it?¡± The man looked at the panel, ¡°Three is calling.¡± The mother nodded and walked out of the control room with the little girl. ¡°Hello three. What is happening?¡± On the other side of the call, the sound of popping and explosions could be heard, ¡°Two betrayed us. Save the kid! Take the pods *cough* *pop* *pop* get away! ARGHHHHH!¡± The call cut and the man sat in the middle of the dark room in silence. His eyes glazed over as he stared out into the front window of the destroyer. Asteroids zoomed past them like boulders of death. Each second was a miracle. ¡°Unmarked cruiser. Do you copy?¡± The captain stumbled out of the Hornet and threw the firearms into a rack, ¡°Damnit. Three men down.¡± ¡°Unmarked cruiser. Do you copy?¡± The captain looked up at the screen. Three military cruisers from the empire surrounded the ship just outside the scanning range. The captain grabbed the panel on the screen, ¡°Hello. This is the Bloodshot Brothers. What is the Empire doing in Republic space?¡± ¡°We cannot share operation details. We are looking for a young girl. Five years old. Pure human. Your corvette just took off from the operation site. We are currently conducting a scan of your vessel. Please comply.¡± The captain stared at the screen and glanced at one of the men on the command module, ¡°Quick! Look up the description of our target¡¯s daughter!¡± Seconds later the identification file for a five-year-old girl with an empty augments list appeared on the screen. The captain stared at the screen in astonishment, ¡°Shit. Quick, wire me up to the channel.¡± ¡°Ahem. The target you¡¯re looking for was not at the location we just searched.¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± ¡°There were no signs of life.¡± ¡°And how do we know that you didn¡¯t demolish the building to hide the evidence?¡± The captain breathed in and leaned away from the panel, ¡°Should we share it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s the damn empire. They¡¯ll fry you if you don¡¯t.¡± The captain sighed, ¡°We have a vector trace.¡± The voice responded, ¡°Yes. We have already taken that.¡± The captain spun around to the person who was manning the computers, ¡°Bring up the mainframe logs! Shit.¡± A panel appeared on the big screen showing hundreds of new entries at the last minute. The entries suddenly started disappearing. ¡°Lock the logs! Isolate the data!¡± The captain looked up and the entries stopped disappearing. Only three left. Only three pieces of evidence that the empire had stolen any information. And all of it was built-in music lists. He leaned back and covered his head, ¡°Fuck! They weren¡¯t scanning but hacking. Damnit. They got it all.¡± ¡°Scans completed. We have confirmed what we need. Safe flying.¡± ¡°Hold on! Wait! We only need the two parents!¡± The Empire cruisers started aligning to intercept along the vector they had stolen. The captain blared into the channel, ¡°Oi! We were hunting them first!¡± ¡°No records.¡± ¡°Separate mainframe.¡± ¡°Send records.¡± The captain nodded to a tech by a consol. ¡°Record received. Affirmative. You may proceed with your mission. Temporary truce?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± ¡°Inviting to fleet.¡± A large orange lettering of ¡°Join Fleet &#@%¡± appeared on the screen. A short nod from the captain and the old cruiser joined the fleet. ¡°Sharing objectives.¡± ¡°This vessel will comply.¡± The captain pressed a few buttons on a consol sending the full report to the fleet channel. Seconds later, a report appeared in front of him. ¡°You only want the girl?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°We only want the parents.¡± ¡°Sure.¡± ¡°This works out?¡± ¡°We request an alteration of unidentified vessel¡¯s objective.¡± ¡°Continue.¡± ¡°Requesting full data and ether fragment of parents for smoother operation.¡± ¡°No promises.¡± The leading cruiser continued rotating. ¡°Locking trajectory. Broadcasting vector. Brace for acceleration.¡± Chapter 21 - Sea of Venus(13) - Explosive Ejection Chapter 21 - Sea of Venus(13) - Explosive Ejection The four cruisers surrounded the broken destroyer. ¡°Callsign NOBIN. Do you copy?¡± The destroyer was rolling in a barrel roll as it careened past asteroids ¡°Their fucked. No thrust. Heading towards gravity well in the asteroid belt? That¡¯s a death sentence.¡± The man sitting next to the captain sighed, ¡°Here, look at the logs. Just hacked it off the primary mainframe.¡± The captain sighed, ¡°Ah. It¡¯s a political assassination. I feel bad for the kid.¡± ¡°Should we board?¡± ¡°Yeah. Burst a hatch open.¡± The captain connected to the global channel, ¡°Empire fleet, we are preparing to board topmost hatch. Please stand clear of any debris.¡± ¡°Negative. Allow fleet to halt vessel.¡± Three beams of green and blue light hit the destroyer from the other three cruisers. The captain stared in amazement, ¡°Graviton beams?¡± The destroyer slowly came to a halt over the course of half an hour and stopped spinning. The captain signaled to the gunner, ¡°Open it up.¡± *Thunk* The sound of a railgun shell with minimal charge sent the cruiser into an eerily quiet recharge sequence. The usual whoosh of the energy release and recharge usually filled the silence and cooled the anticipation of a hit. The crew watched in silence as the small gleaming rod traveled towards the destroyer. A bright flash of blue came out of the destroyer as the hatch was depressurized. The captain waved over to the crew, ¡°Get in the breacher drone! We¡¯re dropping in!¡± Six of the men squeezed into the cramped space along with their gear. ¡°Cycle it and launch us!¡± The hatch depressurized and opened flinging the drone into space. ¡°Calculating breach vector.¡± A loud beep echoed inside the drone. ¡°Vector found. Burning.¡± *Crunch* An AI blared through the speakers, ¡°Depressurizing drone.¡± Two bolts on the side of the drone fell to the ground. ¡°Activation ready.¡± A button on the opposite side of the door out of the drone lit up red. The captain put his hand up to the button, ¡°We ready?¡± The five other men nodded. ¡°One milligram.¡± Each of the men hit a button on the inside of their wrist. A sharp pain struck the back of their necks. A warm sensation filled their body as the mixture of ash, blood, and water traveled through their bodies.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. The captain hit the button. *Thunk* *BANG* The door flew off the drone and lodged itself in the wall of the empty hatch. All the contents of the hanger had been ejected when the room was depressurized. The six men stepped out into the pitch-black hanger and started utilizing the electromagnets on their boots to walk on the ground. ¡°We¡¯re gonna need to airlock this shit.¡± Out rolled a large rectangular emergency airlock that folded out into a small room. The captain clicked a button, and robots automatically welded it to the floor and wall of the hatch. ¡°This is Bloodshot Brothers. We have successfully boarded the target. How shall we proceed?¡± ¡°Fleet @&$# to away crew, maintain neutral stance. Engage if necessary. We can mind wipe if needed.¡± The captain cursed under his breath, ¡°Quantum computer, graviton beam, and brain scrubber. What the fuck? What is this fleet doing out here.¡± The men walked into a dimly lit corridor as the newly made airlock sealed behind them. ¡°Dad¡­ what are those red dots?¡± Sweat rolled down the man¡¯s face as he stared at the map of the ship, ¡°Those are friends that are here to help us.¡± ¡°Where¡¯s mommy?¡± The man glanced over his shoulder and saw his wife checking the plasma magazines of two rifles, ¡°She¡¯s getting ready to greet those friends.¡± ¡°Really?¡± The man nodded and handed the little girl her favorite stuffed bear, ¡°Hold onto this. We¡¯re going to play hide and seek okay? I¡¯ll try to find you.¡± One of the men tapped the side of a sliding door, ¡°It¡¯s open.¡± ¡°Weapons at ease, take an evasive stance.¡± The men spread out about two meters from each other. The captain tapped the door twice, ¡°Opening it up. In three, two, one.¡± *Clang* The two sides of the sliding door clattered to the ground as the men walked into the dark control module. Their searchlights scoured the whole room. Four tables were on their side. ¡°I need thermal scans.¡± ¡°We are transmitting.¡± The captain got a signal from the empire¡¯s cruisers, ¡°Tha-¡° *Pop* *Pop* ¡°Shit!¡± Blue plasma streaked through the air as a figured stood crouched behind the table in the middle of the room, shooting plasma. ¡°Shields!¡± The captain hit a sequence of buttons on the inside of his wrist and felt a cold sensation cover his body. The plasma bullets splattered onto the shields and evaporated as one of the intruders put up a barrier. A stray bit of plasma splattered onto the top of the waist high barrier, the intruder cursed, ¡°It¡¯s stuck!¡± ¡°Deploy it. Damn it!¡± ¡°This shit is stuck!¡± The captain pushed one of the other members to the front and ripped out the corner of the barrier that was stuck. He chucked the piece of metal into a random corner of the room, ¡°Deploy it!¡± With a hard tug on the top of the box, the barrier extended above their heads with rotatable slots for them to fit their rifles to shoot through. ¡°Barrier deployed!¡± The captain unhooked a grenade from his belt and pulled the pin using his teeth, ¡°Stun grenade!¡± A loud sound made the whole destroyer rumble as the room was flooded in blinding white light. The Intruders raised the visors that they used to shield their eyes from the grenade. The captain yelled, ¡°Get them!¡± Two figures lay prone behind the middle table. A man and a woman. The captain looked at the biometrics, ¡°Target found. Eliminating.¡± He pointed his rifle at the man¡¯s heart, ¡°Unfortunately, you¡¯ll need to suffer pain because I can¡¯t fry your brain.¡± *Pop* *Pop* The sound of metal hitting metal came from behind the captain. ¡°Momm- ¡° The little girl saw six men in full plated armor with two of the men holding her parents by the head, their lifeless bodies dangling from their grips as a strange silver device was placed onto their heads. Smoke came out of a hole where their hearts once were. The girl turned and sprinted towards the door she had just come through. One of the two fallen doors tripped her, and she fell to the ground with a loud thump. The captain yelled, ¡°Put ¡®er to sleep!¡± A small dart shot out of the wrist of one of the men and the little girl collapsed on the ground. One of the men tapped the back of the silver helmet, ¡°Brain¡¯s in stasis. Fragments intact.¡± The captain took out a vacuum safe ejection bag, ¡°Put em in.¡± The sleeping girl and the two dead bodies were thrown into the bag. The captain tossed an explosive charge at the large command module window. He primed it and walked out. ¡°Seal it.¡± *click* *Boom* ¡°Away to fleet, Objective has been ejected from the ship. Collect it yourself.¡± The bag flew through the window that was blasted open as the command module depressurized. ¡°The eternal empire is grateful for your assistance. We¡¯ve done you a little¡­ favor. We hope to meet again and hopefully not as enemies.¡± The captain looked at the holographic map and saw a floating cache of something. ¡°Crew, scan that object.¡± ¡°Captain¡­ it¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s¡­¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Liquid ether. It¡¯s Sophus!¡± The captain¡¯s eyes widened, ¡°Sophus.¡± The other men stared at the captain in shock. He nodded, ¡°Purification.¡± Chapter 22 - Sea of Venus(14) - Little Fish Chapter 22 - Sea of Venus(14) - Little Fish Aboard Cruiser class Lightning-X ¡®Shadow of Zeus¡¯ ¡°Easy there! We need these bodies intact!¡± A commando in black fabric armor glanced over at the man who was speaking, ¡°What¡¯re we going to put down?¡± His eyebrows raised as he closed his eyes and tilted his head back, ¡°Whew. Just put down that we plucked em outa the belt.¡± ¡°Nexus will know.¡± He cracked his neck and looked at the abandoned destroyer and smirked, ¡°Since when did they ask for a report?¡± The room burst into laughter as the sealed black bag entered the cargo hold of the cruiser. The two heads were taken off the bodies along with the brains that were in stasis. The metal spheres were thrown into clone vats for regrowth. Sophus was injected into the solution to reform the sentience of the clones such that they didn¡¯t even know they were a clone. A group of technicians examined the two bodies. Each had a charred hole where their hearts were and were missing heads. ¡°So?¡± One of the technicians looked up, ¡°It¡¯s a tracking virus in the blood.¡± ¡°Can you remove it?¡± ¡°No.¡± The man crossed his arms as he pondered. He looked up, ¡°What¡¯re they transmitting?¡± ¡°Location.¡± The man wore thin black body armor typically used by female inquisitors during the first inquisition. His chest plate, however, was an extremely thick piece with three layers of plates. On his face was a gas mask with a silver X on it. Wavy grey hair filled his head and seemed to shake as he walked around. Another commando walked up to the man, ¡°How about we eject em?¡± ¡°We can¡¯t. We need to ship the brain.¡± One of the technicians raised her hand, ¡°We can do a neural swap.¡± The man stared at the technician, ¡°But then you¡¯d have to open up the brain and spill the blood everywhere. Then what?¡± ¡°Clean it up.¡±Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. The man groaned, ¡°Infected blood is too dangerous.¡± He waved his hand, ¡°Go ahead and do it. Remember to use proper shielding.¡± The technicians placed the two brains on an operating table and started using specialized knives to create slices in them. Each part of the brain was carefully sliced into thin disks in cross sections that wouldn¡¯t pass through any neurons meaning every possible section could get a highly detailed surface scan. ¡°Why¡¯re we going through so much trouble for just one girl.¡± The man looked at the commando who posed the question, ¡°It is the solution for the inquisitions.¡± ¡°Solution. Ha!¡± He crossed his arms, ¡°That little girl. She could start the resurgence of thought.¡± The room quieted. A female commando asked, ¡°Renaissance?¡± He nodded, ¡°A new era. And the first crusade of Ouroboros.¡± One of the biggest problems with living in the Empire is the restriction of information. Censorship and brainwashing are obvious methods to retain power. However, the empire was forced to use both as a means of survival. From the start, the technology used in the foundation of the empire was inherently flawed and as time progressed the core technology degraded or evolved. Certain triggers could potentially trigger unintended consequences as evident by the collapse of Phobos. The massive shock of Phobos, however, gave the empire the rather stupid idea of cloning their super warrior and using his clones as destructive bombs causing many more problems and the next inquisition. Finally, the third inquisition removed the free thinking of most artists as the barriers of the triggers had eroded. Since almost every human in the galaxy had an implant inside them whose genesis was that of Dr. Fritz¡¯s biological inventions, it was easy for the empire to manipulate the basic subconscious of humanity. If the ability to think is returned, the revivification of the spirit of discovery would be inevitable. Hence, the start of the first crusade. The empire hopes to line the crusade up with the first wave of Xeno conquerors. A fine plan indeed. The technicians finished transferring all the neural images over to the newly grown brain and were now attempting to erase the memories of the last few hours from all three brains. ¡°Hey, Guardian ten, What do we do with these bodies?¡± The man looked at the two bodies in the middle of the room, ¡°Drain them and put them in a cryo casket.¡± The technicians nodded and one stabbed the wrist of one of the bodies. It spurted blood everywhere drenching the technician¡¯s face in infected blood, ¡°Shi-¡° *Bang* Vapor came out of the man¡¯s pistol as his hand shook. He set the pistol down and walked out of the room. Venus, At Home. Zero sat on a little rock in the backyard. The backyard had this small pond and zero poked his head over to water. Inside the pond was a bunch of colorful orange, yellow, and red fish. Zero stared at the fish who stared back at him. Looking at the pond, he couldn¡¯t see it¡¯s bottom and as he reached his hand over the edge, the fish seemed to crowed around his hand. He reached in and a few of the fish tried eating off the palm of his hand, ¡°They¡¯re so big.¡± The fish were quite massive for the size of the pond. Zero wondered if the pond was really a pond. He stuck a stick in the pond and felt around for a few minutes. Eventually the stick went into something. A hole? Pipe? ¡°What is this hole for?¡± A voice behind him spoke, ¡°That¡¯s the path that leads to the sea.¡± The boy spun around and saw the large figure of Gaius standing in the doorframe of the backdoor of the house. ¡°So, did you track the body?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Where is it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s on a ship of the Empire.¡± ¡°Damn.¡± ¡°So¡­¡± ¡°Let the wraiths raid em.¡± ¡°Foreign po-¡° ¡°Foreign powers risky blah blah blah shut up. We need the bodies and the girl.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°To stop him.¡± ¡°Him?¡± ¡°The real emperor.¡± Chapter 23 - The Finch Flies(1) - Disintegrating Mortality Chapter 23 - The Finch Flies(1) - Disintegrating Mortality ¡°Heyoo? Anyone there?¡± The soft breeze blew over my face. As my eyes fluttered open I could vaguely feel something squishing my face. ¡°Haha! Look at that.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Laughter erupted from around me as I sat up, ¡°What?¡± ¡°How you doin Gaius?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± A largely built tall man walked over to me and pulled me up to my feet, ¡°You took a ball to the face. You good?¡± A splitting headache suddenly hit me as a ringing noise became louder. I stumbled, ¡°Ugh, do I look fine coach? Hah.¡± The man laughed, ¡°Probably a small concussion. We¡¯ll let you sit it out for a few weeks. Tell me if you need anything.¡± I suddenly remembered, ¡°What about the homecoming game?¡± The coach smiled, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. You need some time to rest either way.¡± ¡°Really?¡± The coach started helping me walk off the field, ¡°Sometimes life is just like that.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Sometimes you get a shitty hand and sometimes you win the jackpot.¡± ¡°So, what¡¯s this?¡± The coach chuckled, ¡°Seems like a pretty shitty hand to me.¡± He continued speaking but I couldn¡¯t hear him anymore through the ringing in my ears. The splitting headache along with the feeling of nausea welling up inside my head did not help. Ugh. Why do hospitals always have to place a blinding light right above your eyes. Like come on. I know they really want to get that good look at you but care for my vision at least a little bit. Oh shit. I gotta sneeze. Ahhhh CHOOO! ¡°Ah. The big man is awake.¡± I pointed up to the light, ¡°Bright.¡± A voice that I presumed to be a nurse laughed, ¡°Sorry! We didn¡¯t expect you to wake up so soon.¡± ¡°Soon?¡± ¡°You got here almost a minute ago.¡± I felt my head as a high-pitched ringing sound reverberated in my ear. I looked around, ¡°Ah, hospital.¡± Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. ¡°Your mother is coming to pick you up. It¡¯s just a minor concussion.¡± ¡°How long am I out?¡± ¡°Out of football?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± The nurse stuck her head out the door and a tall doctor walked into the room, ¡°What was the question?¡± ¡°When can I get back to the game?¡± ¡°Is that the only thing on your mind?¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± The doctor took a seat on the rolling chair that was in front of a monitor, ¡°Don¡¯t you have anything else to do? You¡¯re in middle school.¡± ¡°I gotta win.¡± ¡°Is it about winning?¡± I sat there for a minute. Did I really want to win? Why did I want to win. I smirked, ¡°I guess it¡¯s not about winning. I just want to be better than dad.¡± The doctor laughed, ¡°You have some high goals there. At the rate you¡¯re going, it would be possible. Did your father return home?¡± I tried to recollect the last time I had seen him, ¡°I think he said that he¡¯d return a month ago.¡± ¡°Really? Where¡¯d he go to this time?¡± ¡°He went to the American base on the Moon.¡± The doctor smiled, ¡°Remember me when you go up there alright? Hang in there big guy.¡± Suddenly a high-pitched noise shot through my ears almost like a scream. I looked over to the small window above the monitor and saw a floating blob of white light. Floating white mass. Something was burning in the back of my eyes. *whoosh* Something passed me. I looked over at where the doctor was standing. A human sized black outline was projected onto the suddenly bright white room. I stared at it confused and then looked down. I¡¯m floating. What? Wait. Where am I? I reached down into my pocket. Wood. I pulled it out of my pocket. It¡¯s dad¡¯s pistol. I looked behind me and saw my black shadow on the white wall behind me. Ack. Splitting headache. GAHHHHHHHHH Dr. Fritz sat at a monitor typing in some notes. He sighed and leaned back in his seat, ¡°Memory alteration to initiate the connection worked. Now we gotta undo it in time. We don¡¯t need a fourth inquisition.¡± He chuckled to himself as he plugged a few wires into the control panel. He looked up at the screen, ¡°Hm. Should be coming to by about now? Ah.¡± Gaius looked around. He blinked? No, he had no eyes. It was as if he was floating in something. He heard a voice from behind him. ¡°Commencing initial status checks.¡± Gaius shifted his gaze sideways, ¡°What?¡± ¡°All checks passed. The test is a success. Injecting usage information.¡± Gaius felt a sharp pain in where his head would be before he passed out again. Onboard the Cruiser class Lightning-X ¡®Shadow of Zeus¡¯ ¡°Warning. Pressure in five external chambers have been breached. Warning. Pressure in five external chambers have been breached. Sealing breaches. No Casualties.¡± The commando in black fabric armor cursed, ¡°They got two fucking battleships on us. Computer! Thermal scan!¡± ¡°On screens. Potential fires are marked.¡± The man turned around, ¡°Send out teams to contain it now! Vent atmo if you can¡¯t clean it up.¡± He turned to look up at the screen, ¡°How the hell did Prophesy not pick up on this?¡± ¡°These battleships are not logged in recent scans. They entered from outside the system at a fraction the speed of light.¡± The ship rocked as a second bombardment hit the cruiser. The commando looked over at the screen, ¡°Destroy all data! We¡¯re initiating Protocol Two. Uphold the mission.¡± ¡°Yes sir!¡± Red floodlights switched on as energy was cut in every sector of the ship. The reactors in the reactor room started spinning out of control as the control rods were removed and ether was forcefully pumped into them. A loud voice rang through the ship, ¡°For the Emperor!¡± A rumbling noise shook the cruiser as the vibrations from the reactors went critical. Zero stood at the sink as he brushed his teeth. He¡¯d been at this house for almost a week. He¡¯d done nothing but he didn¡¯t really care. There were plenty of toys to play with in the basement and the food was certainly much tastier than the ones the old man used to give him. In fact, Zero had almost completely forgotten his teacher until the night before when he quickly stopped by to say hello. Apparently, he was supposed to give lessons on something. Zero was content with his life. The woman said she was ¡°mommy¡±, but Zero didn¡¯t have any idea what that was supposed to mean. She did give him a small little fluffy yellow stuffed animal with two black dots for eyes and an orange triangle for a beak. ¡°What is it?¡± The woman smiled sadly, ¡°It¡¯s a baby monster named Chippy¡± ¡°Chippy?¡±