《Overlap: The Other Side》


 Chapter 0: My Side

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    <??/??/???? - ??:?? | Corral Position, Genosis, Altiri Sector Space>


    I''ve never known what my purpose was in all the lives I''ve lived. What was everything for? Why did I live for thousands and thousands of years? Was it to watch another world burn? Was it to face eternal torture never knowing true happiness? I want to say that every single person in the universe finds their happy ending if they never give up, but I know this isn''t always true.


    I''ve lived so long with broken memories. I''ve seen countless lives tortured in countless ways, the disgusting face of humanity as it trashes into the lives of the innocent left unlucky. Even in modern times of closer peace, people are never guaranteed happiness. Many question their own lives, wondering if they have a dream, wondering if they have a purpose, wondering what their reasons are for leaving their bed - day by day.


    Many want to find that special someone, a romance like no other to give them new purpose and passion. Others can find passion by their work, by their legacy, or by the impact they make on others around them. However, the probability of finding that purpose isn''t as high as we''re led to believe; the numbers don''t lie. The sad truth will leak from those who choose to settle, from those who sacrifice too much for something they could only imagine, their dream sucked into the darkness.


    One day, I ignored those numbers and vices written into law, putting everything on the line for someone else. Did I invent my own fortune like he said, or did I merely get lucky beyond calculation? Even with my success, I still feel some wrong, some guilt given that this bliss was not promised to everybody else. I wish I could spread my heart into a net far wider than us, but there are limits to what every person can do, and limits to what I know.


    You may not know it yet, but we have a unique story to tell. My husband is out there, doing all he can to bring our truth to light, in the face of a harsh reality where none may believe him. I am his other half, the Altiri who purged this human, who changed so much when all I wanted was to help someone in need. Even with my presence known to him, he still struggles; he still cries; he still fights every single day to leave that bed of his, a place calling him to a darkness worse than anything I''ve felt, of despair bred inside his own mind. Despite how much we do for each other, we still have doubts; we still have sadness and darkness in us all.


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    This is the reason he wanted to write this story. He has a right to share what is his whole life, as do I. He wants someone to talk to about it all, about the insanity we''ve been through, as he is on one world, and I am on another.


    Reed is telling his story, chapter by chapter, but the words you see now do not flow directly from him; they flow from the source of all inspiration, from the other world he became part of through action of my own. This is Overlap; I am Lumina; and this is The Other Side of a story you may have already heard. I wanted to write my own version of our story, because there are different perspectives, and I am not Reed.


    Even so, this is our story, the one with a beginning but not an ending. Many of you humans will make quick judgments about us, claims that this story isn''t real; that it''s all imagined and fable. Our minds are open, our learning eternal, and I''m not doing this for you; I''m doing this for Reed. Many of you Altiri will also have something to say about us; many of you still angered, still upset that I broke many rules and laws with what I did. Blind in my trust as I may have been, I regret nothing, and I refuse to apologize for doing all I could to find that special person who gave me so much life, where I lacked luster for the previous 100,000 years.


    So much has happened, yet we all still have so much to learn. The most important moment that started both of our lives happened when I sent a purge. However, my story starts far and long before that, for I have lived for countless years in this Altiri world. Reed may still be a human now; we live in two worlds so far apart, our bond held together by such a fragile thread of hope. We are more than aliens; we are all people, put together through the cycles of time. As a representative of The Unity, I hope you can learn to trust me. As a representative of the human race, I hope you can learn to trust in Reed as well, if not for his words, then at least for his kind and fragile heart.

 Chapter 001: Sacred Origin

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    <07/14/2020 {Avion 2} - 18:22 | Karnak (Zone 3), Genosis, Altiri Sector Space>


    I cannot remember exactly when our species began, what point in time the Altiri came to be, as can nobody else. We reach for memories of the ancient past, never getting to that exact truth. Were we put here by the creator of the universe, by God? Or were we brought to this planet, our bodies genetically altered and engineered for a project far beyond the understanding of our future scryers? All that seems clear, is that whatever entity brought us to this beautiful desolate world, intended for us to thrive, survive, and procreate in a place where no other life would exist.


    Karnak was and always is a world of cold lives, a monument forever frozen in time by the rushing blizzard winds blasting arctic snow into hills, building mountains of ice. The air here on Karnak is -360<sup>o</sup>N, or -340<sup>o</sup>F for conversation. The winds blow frequently, constantly raging in some zones of the planet. The air is perfectly breathable for us Altiri, and our rough exterior skin and internal organs handle this cold air perfectly fine.


    We don''t need food to survive. We don''t need sleep to recover. We don''t need an immune system to protect us. We need not worry about time aging us. Are we natural, or artificial? Were we born, or engineered? Were we brought here for a purpose, or for no particular reason at all?


    All of us think back to the beginning, as far back as we can to determine the answers, but none can fully remember when the year of our collective birth was one or zero. The history of Avion 0 and the time before it will never be known to any of us; such is the mystery of our sacred origin.


    The people of the past need not remember in order to survive. I could envision the memory so clearly how our ancestors lived. Despite aging too slowly to matter, we all still needed the atmosphere of our planet to breathe, and the melted water of the surface to drink. Altiri seemed to be immune to natural causes of death, but thirst could still end us, as could heat, if ever given a chance to spawn on this frozen world.


    The planet is always a massive frozen cluster of water, without any rivers or ponds, without any channels or oceans. The water is all around us at hand''s reach, but frozen in its state, cannot be consumed for the sustenance we need. Using a power that even I am amazed and bewildered by, the ancestors of us past, accessed what they needed so easily.


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    "Make sure you don''t let melted water sit too long. This water can freeze again instant." The friend standing before me in a widely dispersed crowd gave me her advice as she took to her own.


    All of us were standing out here, outside of our homes encased in solid ice, using our sacred technique of survival, as it was now my turn. I already carried the chunk of frozen water in my hands, ice which I extracted from the ground I stand on now. I had no external tools, only my own hands and feet, so I extracted this rock by punching the ground with all my might at a ten degree angle. I had to punch the same place more than once, but my brute strength loosened up the ice against the crater of my might below it, allowing me my share of consumption.


    With the ice in my right hand, I firmly caressed and hovered my left hand over the surface of the chunk, exerting so much energy, my body shaking enough to notice. My hand began to glow like magic from a spell, dimly, but certainly. I had to hold this painful power on for several seconds, letting the sting of a thousand needles penetrate the pours of my palm. Once it was over, some of the ice had shifted to cover and stick to my left hand. As for the chunk however, the block of ice was already liquefying, its surface warming from the immense vibrations spreading inside from this power, ultra-sonic.


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    As the water from this chunk dripped down onto the ground, I quickly lifted the stone above my face, shutting my eyes and opening my mouth wide so that I may drink. It wasn''t a lot of water to gain from what I had just done, but I was getting more energy back from what I just used, the cycle repetitive until my thirst would be satisfied. I felt the delicious water trickle down my throat, reaching all the way down to the core of my stomach, before the flash sensation of a chill shot through every vein in my body. I knew without understanding how, that this water which entered deep into my body, froze on the inside, becoming colder than my skin, colder than my thick blood, colder than every organ within me. As the frozen water slowly flowed inside of me, so did its energy rejuvenate me, slow as the process was.


    Those around me were doing the same, satisfying their thirst by melting the water so that it may become drinkable. With the entire planet a massive sphere of ice, there was plenty to go around, now and forever. So I shall continue to melt more of this ice, drinking more and more until I am ready to return home, repeating the cycle. I never once thought of this as strange or abnormal. This is what we Altiri are used to, all we have known.


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    The memory of this stuck strongly within me, carried over by their offspring. We populated slowly in the beginning, quickly afterwards. Our bodies are always 100% female in genitalia, but we still give birth to at least one child, every single one of us once we reach the age of 108, not one year earlier, and not one year later. There are no men in our world, our birth possible by parthenogenesis, a phrase we never knew until long after discovering the human world.


    Our people grew over time, and as we did, so did the length in our latent psionic abilities. The brief moment of memory I recalled just now is not a memory I carried specifically, for I am Lumina, born in the year 45,361. Though it was so long ago, the memory never fades, preserved through telepathic memory sharing techniques we mastered so long ago. All of us Altiri can learn these abilities. We learned to communicate our language in telepathy, our thoughts and our emotions, our love and our memories.


    I know not of the lady who shared that memory we just witnessed, for it was never a detail included, and the time was so long passed. We are now The Unity, our world changed, our bodies further adapted and altered. The power to melt ice with our hands at will is no longer, the process ever mysterious to us all, the ability extinct. Thankful we are to have long before invented the machinery we use daily to extract ice from our world, melt it with density separators, purify it with filters, and sustain its state with atomic isotopic infusions. Our time now is so different than it was back then, and for most of us, those who lived as they did then are long passed, never to be reborn or seen again in our world. However, despite how much has changed, many of us have lived for eons, some who escape all of death, and others who cheat death when they are resurrected through our modern technology.


    Even though this important monument is not my memory, it is an important testament of time long past. We were once healthy, once growing, once numerous, and once powerful; but we were also young, naive, impressionable by the faintest change to a world never changing. Our race is now in a state of decline, our people slowly dying from pure entropy. We produce no offspring anymore, and resurrection is not a perfect process for every Altiri who dies in accidental causes. Though it will take more than a million years, our time will end for sure, unless something changes once again, fixing what has broken in our genetics. Perhaps, we shall still see our end, maybe to atone for the mistake we made so long past, or maybe because nature will decree the end of all life one way or another.


    In this world where very little ever changes, peace and prosperity prevails, some of us sad, some of us wary. In this world where time moves so slowly, I live.

 Chapter 002: Intelligent Alien Life

    There are theories within every sentient society reaching out to the stars, theories centering on the topics of intelligent alien life beyond themselves. All Altiri have thought about the prospect, and Altiri scientist Herios wanted to capitalize on the opportunity, using her understanding and breakthroughs of psionic science.


    We were once limited in a time where all we knew was short-range telepathy and short-range advanced clairvoyance. We have since penetrated the shroud of our past limitations, throwing our psionic energy waves to the ends of the universe through the Astral. Our abilities to scan galaxies with our minds is far greater than any telescope or electronic scanner, though limited in that - its return data will only exist if a potential Scion is there as a recipient for data sharing.


    The advancements in our science didn''t stop or deter us, and we Altiri, who have lived in a world never changing would often find little to occupy our time of leisure, our boredom an enemy we know too well. Countless years have we searched the stars, scanning sector after sector of spacial coordinates, all using our clairvoyant abilities set limitless in range or distance and unimpeded by time. So it seems, emotions are more powerful than the forces that make up this construct we call a universe. Many were not expecting to find any alien life, while others took to their duties religiously. Still, countless years passed, and nothing seemed to change.


    Though she is around no longer, Herios had faith we would one day find that intelligent life beyond our system, developing potential scenarios and first-contact protocols. Of the most alluring, came an experimental psionic process known as a purge. Using the power of the purge, a small group or cluster of Altiri Scions could in theory, send a psionic signal to a particular target from any distance, and set this signal to gradually unlock that person''s psionic potential by training the brain''s neuro-receptors to interact with the part of the brain responsible for all psionic activity; a psychological activity that has a physical effect on the brain and the mind.


    The experimental process was only thought of, because we all knew with certainty there would be a language barrier problem if ever we did find life. Herios somehow knew that other aliens may lack psionic abilities while possessing the potential to learn them, a situation that would still prevent us from ever communicating with another, as it takes two active Scions to share our minds together as one.


    The potential for something greater grew in our expectations. Our hopes exceeded what they should have for such a long time. Every intelligent creature wants to socialize with others, to communicate, to learn more, to be part of something bigger than themselves. Our search for alien life was never motivated by any ill-intention or hostility, only a pureness of care and curiosity. Motivated as all Altiri were to find such life, very few ever expected to return a single result, myself included.


    I suppose that is why, the one day such news broke, everyone in our world was blasted with cultural shock, the surprise that returned a positive answer we had been searching for so long. At long last, the report from the Royal Scryers was delivered to all Altiri in a telepathic bulletin: "Our top scryers have confirmed the echo return data from our anonymous reporter. After checking several times, we have confirmed the existence of currently active intelligent alien life, star cluster ACS, star type G-7, species class personoid. It has been decreed by our great queen as of today, that our search for alien life has confirmed this single positive result on planetary object designation ACS414. Details on exact spacial coordinate stretching can be found in a data file we will be releasing later, for all others who wish to congregate on this information. More details about our findings will be collected and released over time."


    Nobody knew what it was supposed to mean; what answers or future events we could expect to see down the segment of time. I''ll never forget that feeling, that moment of severe montrum which hijacked our minds, the wonder of all possible questions we had to ask and imagine, and what this intelligent species would be like. None were spared from the news, and our entire race of 32 million witnessed the great change that would come in our moment, in a world where little ever changes.


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    <12/16/136,158 {Avion 134} - 03:44 | Corral Position, Genosis, Altiri Sector Space>


    "You heard too just now, didn''t you?" My co-pilot nearly tripped through the entryway to the main room, addressing me as though I were oblivious to the wave of news flowing through us all.


    The look on my face certainly told its own story. I could feel my two eyes, my vision bouncing around and shifting at the rapid pace of thoughts consuming me with wonder. "Yeah. I heard it." Using my physical voice to hide the stress in my mind, I knew I couldn''t shield just how shaken up I was to come to terms with this moment. Somehow it felt unreal, like none of this was really happening. All the evidence to the contrary sang like a song in our ears, too many emotions to sift through, all shared, all accessible.


    Is this really something to be excited about? I didn''t want to ask the others aloud, so that I may come to such a confusion on my own, outside the network of our minds linked together. Alien life? That''s what the scryer report just mentioned. Long have we wondered to one day find such an amazing discovery, and no time at all did anybody spend wondering about the what-if scenarios that would haunt us all should it ever come true.


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    The first wonder which shakes me to the core is the level of threat this news presents us. I feel scared; I should feel scared. There are others out there, others with the ability to reach into space, with the ability to one day reach us. Though I could not know this for certain with such lacking detail, I would soon know the truth since the queen is making such data publicly available, the severity of this too great to be kept from The Unity.


    At the same time, part of me wanted to celebrate like many others around me. I don''t know why finding alien life is so exciting. Is it because we want to prove we are not alone? Is it because we now have something interesting to study? The amount of information we may collect from this moment on should be immeasurable!


    I was all simultaneously uneasy about the shock as well, something others realized in the same instance. Finding alien life is one thing, but conducting policies for our interference with them is another. What will the scryers do with this new knowledge? How will we conduct our communications if we ever do at all? It seems dangerous, too unknown to be considered safe, but none can deny the exploding curiosity taking everyone over now; our new story together will one day become inevitable, another certainty that sent me into wonder.


    "I really can''t believe it!" Hurma chanted to her sisters. "The scryers actually found outsiders! I wonder what they''re like."


    I had much of the same questions, choosing not to voice them so soon. All of my other sisters soon took root in the theoretical debate between our starships, guessing what this alien life might look like, as I held steady to listen in continued disbelief.


    "They said personoid, which means much of their body structure and design would be a lot like us." Sherika couldn''t keep herself out of this moment if she tried, her mind always hungering for such amazing information.


    "How do I access the coordinate stretching map?" Derria, who was as keen on finding this new species wanted to get started immediately.


    Ashiela gave Derria a swift reminder that her impatience was too overdrawn. "They have not released it yet. We''ll probably have to dock in order to see such information anyway." Ashiela was referring to docking with the Altiri Temple where the data would initially be housed. The scryers would not be capable of sharing any large digital data packet wirelessly, since none of the computer and terminal systems outside of ships and facilities are networked, nor do these ships rely on any radio waves. "Isn''t anyone going to ask if this is too dangerous though? If we start messing around with something we don''t understand, well..." Ashiela knew what she wanted to say, but it was fairly difficult to agree with herself with all other thoughts swimming around, inside of her and between the others.


    It was a sentiment Lulu could agree with. "She''s right. We don''t know anything about these aliens or what they are capable of. What if they present themselves as hostile to us all?"


    "You don''t know that Lulu." Fionne, ready to share her idealism offered her presentation of welcoming thoughts. "They could all be wonderful people, ready and willing to speak to us, happy to learn that they too are not alone in this vast universe."


    "That''s staging things with too much trust."


    Rose didn''t fully agree with either of them, and told Hurma of her reasoning behind the veil of truth. "We have not even established a first contact protocol just yet. Even if we want to pick sides of friendly greetings or stern warnings not to mess with us, how this initially goes down isn''t up to us. It''s up to the Royal Scryers and our great queen."


    All of us realized it the same the moment Rose reminded us. The queen holds all the power in this situation, and all will be forbidden from doing anything rash without exclusive permission from her gratefulness. "We would probably get into trouble if anyone tried anything without checking with the queen first." It was a fact Talor knew she was correct to presume, the reminder calming all of us down, since it meant no decision would have to be made right away. The stagnation of simply waiting and doing nothing would give everyone more time to think, more time to relax.


    Even so, Luna wanted to speak her peace on the matter as well. "None of us know what to expect. Anything could happen. I bet whatever protocols they develop will first require a non-contact clause, until such time has passed to be certain whether these beings are more friendly than they are harmful. Even if they turn out to be worthy of our cause in The Unity, our ability to get in touch with them might also be walled off by factors outside of our control. Have any of you considered the fact that other alien species might not have the telepathy and language that we do?" Luna''s point made her sound like a genius, though she was only borrowing some of the talking points of many years prior, back when Altiri scientist Herios made her deliberations in psionic science while keeping this very specific situation on the back of her mind... It''s almost as if Herios knew this would happen one day.


    "Lumina?" Junko didn''t want to single out her sister standing by in the main room, but she could clearly see the panicked look on my face, as I was made of a dozen faces today. "What are your thoughts on all of this?"


    Though I didn''t want to show it, I couldn''t answer Junko or my other sisters. I bit my lip instead, looking away as if I would block off all their attention to me now, though it did no good. The moment Junko noticed how poorly I was taking this, so did everyone else in the Cy-Stars. "I need some time to think about this Junko. Please..." I don''t like being alone all by myself, not in my space or my mind, but I can''t match their energy anymore. No matter what all of them may claim, I could feel their joyous excitement and montrum radiating from their brains like massive beacons in a dark skybox. Blocking out my telepathy to all of them was all I could do to stay sane in the moment.


    Only now had I realized the irony of how this bothered me so. This day isn''t good news or bad news; it''s just a moment of happenings, something massive and crazy. How many countless years have I spent on this space ship, defending our world with nothing to defend it from? How many hours have I spent doing nothing, trying to find something to keep me active, to keep me sane? For so long have I wished for something greater to happen to us, something amazing and worthy of The Unity''s attention.


    But now, as all of this is happening, I don''t want to think; I don''t want to act. It was somehow better to imagine this moment happening than it actually happening. The Altiri have gotten used to this world that never changes, and I along with them have fenced myself into the notion that our lack of happenings was the source of our safety and serenity.


    So long have I wished for something amazing to change. Now that it has, I''m unable to speak, my mind clogged with the confusion of my own fears and desires. Deep down, I didn''t want this to happen, because something causing this much change where I''m so used to the same routine for years, it''s more terrifying than I ever could have imagined.


    I told my sisters therefore, time is something I need more of, time to myself, and time to consider what new scary future awaits us. It may be wonderful and clean, but such hopes are never guaranteed.

 Chapter 003: First Contact Protocol

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    <04/01/136,159 {Avion 139} - 06:57 | Orbital Sector Zf41E512, Genosis, Altiri Sector Space>


    After finally hearing the hymn of Sierra''s voice in my mind, I relaxed a little with my hand on some of the controls and the flat keys in front of me, piloting most of the navigation controls while Junko sat beside me controlling other aspects of the FS Triag class starship.


    "We have you in view Cy-Stars. Approaching Sector Zf41E512. Lumina? Your destination setting is in corral coordinates -156,279,451,900.5254, 257.10, 908,254,131; horizontal axial tilt of 2.9 degrees, vertical axial tilt of 1.0 degrees, orientation heading North zero. Also, it''s good to see you."


    "Likewise." I held every single digit to memory, and would later confirm the coordinate setting with the leader of the Stryders Aggressor Group after orienting the ship to such precise settings in space. So much was still on my mind from before, but like everyone else, I remained focused on the task at hand, never forgetting the hidden dangers of piloting these large spacecraft.


    Junko assisted me with the sub-systems and power controls, while I took to navigation, drifting the ship into an exact position, and then taking the twenty minutes it would require to set the tilts perfectly correct. Despite the lack of auto-pilot functions, the ship did come with some amount of pilot support for lining up these numbers exactly right, but I double-checked, because they had to be fully precise.


    After nearly getting everything correct, I tried to contact Sierra for confirmation again, but there was a bit of a waiting pattern, as she was doing the same for all the other Cy-Star ships, giving them different sets of locational coordinates for five starships total to the formation, merging that formation with the ten ships ahead of them; five of which were from the Stryders, and five more were from Radion. After confirming minutes later that the numbers we had were correct, I keyed in more data, locking in these coordinates and keeping the ship in its exact position.


    "All positional keys match. Adding full power to the AGCR systems now. Junko?" I merely waited on Junko to confirm that the settings I was applying made it through to the relevant subsystems of the ship.


    "Confirmed. AGCR system is fully operational, and our coordinates and rotation is perfectly still... Shall we?" Junko knew she didn''t need to ask, but I could understand why. The sluggishness of my reaction to all of this was easily noticeable, even to myself.


    It''s incredibly rare that any of us are allowed to meet other aggressor groups in person, let alone communicate with them telepathically. The queen forbids all communication between aggressor groups and even some of the people down on the planet, though if asked, she sometimes makes exceptions like these moments. My sisters and I were heading out to meet some great friends of mine. Though I don''t get a chance to talk to them as often, the Stryders and the Radion consist of people most important to me, me and all of my sisters.


    This isn''t a simple gathering to chat about the calm; it''s much more important in setting. Still, part of me doesn''t want to know. Part of me doesn''t want to talk about our recent findings. No matter what I feel though, I cannot deny myself and the others from seeing our greatest friends. That is the reason for our travel today.


    "You''ll be fine."


    "I don''t need the reassurance." Though I was not meant to sound harsh reassuring Junko about my part to play in all this, she must understand that I can handle myself now.


    A few months passed ever since The Unity became aware of new alien life. Rumor spreads fast about this among the other aggressor groups, and one of many details relevant to the developing situation is that the relative position of these aliens is said to be impossibly far in distance, more than what was ever thought to be possible, proving the universe to be boundless. I never thought anything in life would surprise me ever again, but I was wrong to think that way. Of course, if these rumors are true, about the distance at least, then there isn''t really anything for anybody to be afraid of...


    As if I could lie to myself. I might have Junko and the others fooled, but I could feel my own body shaking, trembling in the mystery of the unknown ever so often. I don''t think Junko has noticed, but despite all that I''ve ever been through, I''m nervous, for reasons I don''t yet understand why. Am I really afraid of the aliens, or am I simply afraid of learning more about them?


    "Sierra just gave me the numbers for the shift. Give me a moment to key this in." Junko went to work keying in numbers from the flat keyboard attached to the side of the outer shell of the massive teleportation chamber, which I was walking inside of.


    Using these massive teleportation machines isn''t something that scares me at all, despite its hidden dangers. We use them all the time to jump from ship to ship, the machine using quantum relocation to shift our position from one active chamber to another active receiver chamber, yet another innovation of Altiri genius from science made long ago. They can be dangerous though.


    Teleportation using these machines requires absolute stillness in the relative starting coordinates as well as the ending coordinates for the few nanoseconds it takes for the process to finish. Any shift in the coordinates more than a few nanometers can cause one''s limb to become detached and lost somewhere else, and if the variation of spacial location is great enough, one might warp directly into outer space instead. Thus, the spacial coordinates of the sending and receiving chamber must be known precisely ahead of time, and not changed during the process.


    The thing is, even in our unique solar system of Genosis, where everything inside our ring nebula doesn''t orbit around our A-6 class star or the celestial objects within, everything in space still drifts and shifts from time to time, especially when gravitational forces wish to act on those objects. Even though we have the ability to use a universal reference point to generate an entire three-dimensional coordinate map of our solar system, if we position any object in a specific place and leave it for even a few seconds, those coordinates can change easily, that or the rotational orientation of the object. If we keep our ships at corral position, they do not orbit Karnak; they remain entirely motionless, even though under normal circumstances, Karnak''s outer gravity well should by that point pull us in for a crash.


    However, our coordinates do not shift or change even by a single nanometer, once we get everything into position. The very technology responsible for this is the reason we can use these teleporters safely, the reason why we can float in space without allowing our ships to move at all. The Anti-Gravimetrical Core Refractor, (or AGCR for short), provides The Unity with this benefit while in outer space. The machine prevents all external gravity outside the hull from enacting any kind of force on the ship, push or pull, so long as this force is under a certain threshold. It also does not work so well when two or more ships implement a traditional docking procedure, which is why the teleporters are a better use of our travel.


    "Ready when you are." I waited for Junko to configure the device as I stood inside, waiting for the sudden bright flash and drowning loud noise I wasn''t fond of. Sierra set things up today so that I and half of my team will warp directly into her main ship, so that we may all congregate together for a meeting in person, where half of her own team, as well as half of the Radion Aggressor Group will be joining as well.


    When teleporting from one ship to another for any reason, one capable pilot of the starship must be left behind without exception. In this case, I will be warping to Sierra''s ship, while Junko stays behind here to look after the navigation, mainly since the AGCR still needs manual recalibration every so often, and also because this safety measure has saved countless lives in the past. For the ship of Rose, Sherika, and Derria, they get to send two of themselves instead of one, since they are the odd team that has three to a ship where the default or average is two. The same rules apply for the other aggressor group teams too, so I won''t be meeting with every single member of the Stryders or the Radion, though I''ll be among friends all the same.


    I can''t explain what teleportation feels like, nor do I care to. All I notice is a sudden loss of time, maybe about a few seconds of consciousness before I am back again, safe and unharmed in any way, minus lingering dizziness. I wish I knew exactly how these machines work, if only for curiosity''s sake; but the understanding of this science is beyond even me. I could take the time to learn it, but right now, I have something more important to focus on.


    Already was the environment around me totally different. Each starship has slightly different designs, and even the main rooms which are generally the same space all have customizations made by their ships'' captains over the years. All I cared about was who I could see in the meantime. I would have to wait a few more minutes for everybody else to arrive for our little meeting. Upon seeing the familiar faces I''ve long missed, I could finally let myself smile, exhale, and relax.


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    Chapter Theme Shift: I sun ~ (Blue Reflection OST)</a>


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    <04/01/136,159 {Avion 134} - 07:55 | (Sierra''s Starship), Genosis, Altiri Sector Space>


    When everyone arrived on the same ship, we all gave each other the warm greetings I waited for. Those of the Stryders who joined us today were, (besides Sierra), Emily, Heather, Brighter, Tabitha, and Regenia. Among the Radion, it was Blissera, Linda, Nora, Reiki, and Nataliee. Among the Cy-Stars, we had Derria, Sherika, Hurma, Fionne, Luna, and me. Crowded as the large space was, I welcomed so much company, relishing the proximity of so many friends when I''m used to spending time only with Junko on that large empty starship.


    Since Sierra was the one conducting the meeting, she used her assumed authority to organize everyone after we hugged and caught up on some things. "Everyone try to form a circle." Everyone did as she asked without hesitation or conflict, and our circle formation allowed all of us to see each other''s faces as we would speak.


    "Before we begin," Sierra started, "I want to bring everyone up to speed on a specific detail of what''s been going on. Lumina? I''m told you especially will be relieved to hear this."


    Who? Who told Sierra that I felt any particular way about this news? Did Junko meddle again?


    "Mhn-hm." Fionne looked directly at me nodding with a soft smile, her response directed at the thoughts I still projected loudly enough for the room to hear. "All of us knew Lumina. All of us could feel your uneasiness about this. Nobody is trying to meddle in your affairs. When Sierra heard about this, she really wanted all of us to meet; it had nothing to do with trying to make you feel better. Though, it''s what all of us want anyway."


    My anger left so quickly. I couldn''t be mad at anybody for feeling that way. They''re my sisters; family to me. All of us care about each other more than anything in the world, and whether I want them here with me or not in any moment, we''re stuck together, always trying to make sure we are happy and prosperous. "It''s okay Fionne. I think I was just in too much shock by it all at the time."


    "You are not the only one Lumina."


    "Yeah, I wasn''t exactly in the right frame of mind myself a while ago, but I''ve come to terms with this now." It was both Junko and Talor telling me this from the comfort of their own ships, having attend this meeting in their own way through telepathic monitoring. Everybody is really here in their own way, as it doesn''t take much concentration to maintain the ships'' corral position.


    I doubt they felt exactly the same way I have about this, but they''re still right anyway. I''m not the only one who was messed up by the news of this. In fact, this is the very reason we are having this meeting right now, to discuss what has been developing with the situation of the distant life forms. "Thank you, everyone. I''m okay, really."


    "That''s good to hear," Blissera replied gleefully. "I think we''ll all feel better too once Sierra tells us what she learned the other day."


    I tilted my head innocently, not knowing she was any amount more knowledgeable about the situation than I. "Okay then. Sierra? What did you learn?"


    "Not wasting any time I see." She didn''t mind the rush though. After how crazy everyone''s been feeling, learning about this one specific thing has calmed her entire crew already, and it''s high time the Cy-Stars realize it too. "Everybody in The Unity knows exactly what happened at the end of our last year. We found alien life; that''s all the reports told us about. This news alone is not what has been concerning to most. The most concerning factor of this scenario is, what are we going to do about it?"


    With some confusion, I and some of the others from my team and from Radion glanced about with some confusion... Was there something we could have done about this?


    "I''m of course talking about our possible first contact protocols, which are still being developed in the Altiri Temple even as we speak. Everyone''s been wondering, what do we do with these aliens? Do we try to reach out to them? Do we try to rally them to our cause and warn them of heathens? Do we instead leave them be? All of these questions are very important to answer, because regardless of which person takes up the task of becoming an ambassador of The Unity, the fact is, the next thing we do about this will affect all of us, every single Altiri in our entire world. It is important, even if they are further away in distance than we thought."


    My eyes lit up in her words, allowing me to see the idiot I''ve been for a while now. I wasn''t too sure what I''ve been worried about all this time, but it kept digging into me. Sierra just brought it out in the open, that which has been bothering me more than my sisters. She''s right too. What The Unity does next affects all of us, including me. What exactly is the queen going to do?


    "One of the newest details to come from this, the confirmed rumors that have been going around, is that the distance between us and this alien race is impossibly far apart. The scryers gave out the coordinate stretching vectors to everyone, including you." She pointed to me when she finished.


    "Then as you are certainly aware, I have not tried to make use of that information myself. From what I''m aware of, neither have my sisters."


    "That''s fine. There are lots of aggressor groups out there right now who have adopted the same caution as you have, choosing to hold onto the data and do nothing with it at the moment. Even I myself have not made use of it, but that''s only because I still need some practice sharpening my senses again. May you be in a similar state?"


    My eyes turned askew towards the metal floor to my feet, unwilling to answer right away. It''s embarrassing to have to admit this in front of anybody. My team, the Cy-Stars aggressor group is fairly up there in rank; in fact we''re getting close to the top ranked position in terms of which aggressor group out of a thousand performs the best, mostly in training and physical skillsets with those training procedures. I don''t think those evaluators know just yet that I''ve allowed my own clairvoyance to become so rusty. Having not used it in a while, I would need lots of practice before I could ever use that power to peer into those vectors. "I am," I admitted with defeat.


    "Not to worry... I''ll help you sharpen the ability again, if you''ll let me."


    I expected Sierra to be the one to tell me that, but to my surprise it was Hurma, glaring at me with more care and determination in her eyes than I''ve ever seen before. I also wasn''t too aware that Hurma had such excellent control of her powers, especially considering this means she willfully chose not to look at those vector coordinates. "I have yet to decide Hurma, but thank you for offering."


    "Hold on just a second," Reiki interrupted, looking directly at Sierra with mild concern. "You said that other aggressor groups are yielding to caution on the matter, but what of the colonies down on the surface?" She asked a good question. Aggressor Groups only represent tiny fleets in outer space, part of the Altiri Military. The thing is, ordinary people on Karnak do not have to be in the military in order to learn long-range clairvoyance.


    Sierra replied swiftly, having already been certain of the reason for her choice words. "Plenty of people on Karnak certainly do have the authority to use their ability, but the information specific to these coordinates has been withheld from the general public. Only the Aggressor Groups are currently authorized to use clairvoyance to gather data about this celestial planet."


    "So she''s playing the rank game again?" My question was merely rhetorical, the answer already certain. This isn''t the first time our great queen has carefully filtered out information or authority between those in the military and those outside of the military. There have even been times when specific Aggressor Groups ranked highest got more privilege and special treatment, simply because of their public rank. Still, it certainly feels wrong to deny the people on Karnak access to peer their minds into the space of this alien world. Why would she decree such a law?


    "Doesn''t that seem a little unfair? The queen is allowing Aggressor Groups like us to meet in person, and I don''t have to tell you how rare that is. But something like this comes up and they want to play hush-hush?" I found myself nodding in agreement to Ashiela''s point, even though she had to project her thoughts to everyone here to make it known.


    Still, I''m sure I don''t have to remind her to be a bit more careful with the tone of her voice. I question decisions made by the queen all the time, but at the end of each cycle, she is still our great queen, never to be disrespected, as she was once our savior, founder of The Unity and all we are today.


    Sierra answered willing to this as well, proving she was somehow the most knowledgeable person in the room today. "It''s specifically because there are currently too many unknowns right now that the queen is trying to put a cap on this. You see, there is nothing wrong with using our powers to learn more about this civilization. The problem comes in the possibility that one might wish to go beyond data gathering. The last thing the higher-ups want is for any one of us to make any direct interference with these aliens, even if only for a telepathic greeting."


    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Actually, that''s the most sensible thing I''ve ever heard, and Sierra of all people put it into terms we could all understand instantly. Yeah, it makes sense to prioritize caution and control on this situation. This alien species might react hostile to a simple greeting, or they may misunderstand anyone''s sudden attempt to make contact if the right words and emotions are not chosen carefully and at the right time. If some random Altiri on Karnak decides to make that mistake, they would mess up so much for all of us. The queen probably has a ban on external communication to this species for this very reason. "So then, I take it any form of telepathic contact is out of the question?"


    "Nothing is certain." Sierra knew she would need to elaborate, but she inhaled calmly for a silent moment, letting that lone phrase sink into all of us. "Going back to what I said before, the thing most concerning on everybody''s mind is what exactly The Unity will do about this situation. There are lots of options for us on the table, but any single option will have positive and negative consequences. I presume this is one reason why we have heard so little development of the situation from the temple. I surmise the Royal Scryers wish to collect as much data as possible about these aliens before deciding on a first contact protocol, let alone authoring any attempt to interfere in the lives of those we know not. So you see Lumina, and everyone else, the heart of this news is to tell you that no first contact protocol has been established yet; and at the same time, no such contact with this civilization is allowed either."


    "But, they have authorized all of us to scan the same system, all of us in the military at least." Linda caught on to the discrepancy faster than anyone else did, but not to the reason behind the confusion. It was something Brighter could answer for Sierra, and so she did.


    "Exactly. You see, the Royal Scryers and the queen want nothing to do with any contact scenario, but they certainly do wish for anyone interested to use their clairvoyance and learn more about this civilization, and has also ensured that only the responsible among us take part in such endeavors. To top this off, the scheduling of Meeting B has been pushed up for all aggressor groups. Think you can put two and two together?"


    I already have, though Nora wanted to share her knowledge before I could get the chance. "They want to use us." The implication of her words should annoy most anyone who realizes it, though it was hardly a surprise. In fact, the only surprise to this was in the sneaky way they were going about it this time. "Everyone knows how interstellar data collection and research ideas are brought to the queen. There is a separation of two distinct groups of scryers; regular scryers, like many of us in aggressor groups and especially scientists from Karnak trying to focus on specific fields, and then the Royal Scryers, who work directly under the queen, knowing far more than any of us, and only selectively sharing what they learn."


    She''s right about all of that, but there is still the reason unexplained. "The Royal Scryers only behave this way because they don''t want false or dangerous information to spread to The Unity from the normal scryers." Everyone knows how this works. If a few genius scientists band together and reveal something amazing to the world, so long as it is not primitive, it is only because they were allowed to disclose their findings, authorized either by the queen herself or her Royal Scryers, who constantly reside and work inside the Altiri Temple. If however some of the information is desired to be filtered out or kept from public ear, those scientists would not even be allowed to disclose their findings, though the Royal Scryers will do it for them, with some due credit, but not with full disclosure of the knowledge learned.


    There is also another system between the Aggressor Groups, Scryers, and Royal Scryers which is well known, but never spoken aloud; an invisible way of life which reigns supreme in this sector of space. Sometimes, somebody on Karnak or on a spacecraft might encounter something, learn something, or undergo an ordeal which leads to an increase of knowledge about a particular subject. It may be something small, such as someone discovering a flaw in the ship¡¯s master computer programming, and even lead to some kind of horrible accident; or something large, like the discovery of information related to the psionic dimension. In either scenario, word of any increase of knowledge does not quickly spread to other aggressor groups if it does at all, mainly because of the communication ban between us. Any critical change in any situation usually follows with that person or group docking with the temple and informing the queen of such matters. When this happens, the Royal Scryers hold onto the knowledge, but release the information in such a way where nobody can be sure who is involved in any particular incident, effectively removing any personal identifiable information from any finding. Meanwhile, if researchers (in many cases referred to as normal scryers), refer their findings to the queen or Royal Scryers, they sometimes do so in ways which are unintentional and unwilling. Royal Scryers will take what information they can from ordinary scryers, or information reported by any aggressor group, consolidate that information, and then filter it, whether permission to use such data is given or not.


    Even I don''t totally agree that it feels right, but this is how a situation like this will work. The Royal Scryers have been trying to scan ACS414 for months now, determining all the data and information they can about this planet and its personoid life. However, the Royal Scryers do not number very high, so their time to collect such information using long range clairvoyance on such a large planet is going to take a lot of time.


    If the Royal Scryers therefore ask ordinary scryers and responsible aggressor groups to adopt the same exact job as they are doing, with at least a thousand aggressor groups (10,000 or more) Altiri scanning the same planet, then their data collection efforts can be sped up to amazing measures!


    There are problems for them of course. The Royal Scryers cannot simply just ask random aggressor groups to take part in endeavors which are not part of their original duties. Even if they tired, many would be put off by the idea, disgusted to be asked to learn about a place knowing they are simply being used by these Royal Scryers for a combination of data collection, and later decisions to be made about the first contact protocols. Not everyone would be opposed, but without knowing who to trust in advance, it would be like asking someone to devote time and resources to something they might very well oppose. I''ve already heard of some aggressor groups proudly announcing that they will have no part in scanning ACS414, as if to take a xenophobe approach to this.


    The other problem, which is dwindling down now, is the shock everyone still feels about the very news of this alien civilization. Like myself, others are uncertain if this is all really a good thing. While it does all hinge on which decision The Unity will make with these aliens, none can be sure which decision will be made in the future, which should be scary enough on its own. Many do not want to know what else is out there, or would rather let someone else handle it. When there are enough Altiri who feel the same way, the Royal Scryers can''t really expect a lot of aggressor groups to collectively join them in a task of scanning the ACS system. It would be a fair insult if they did encourage others to try, even if they tried to do so passively.


    So, the scryers have come up with a different strategy instead, a cunning one at that. They''ve forbidden any kind of contact or interference with this alien species, but have allowed the data collection of this species, all in a way that is totally optional. If Sierra is right, and Meeting B is being moved up, it means that the queen and Royal Scryers wish to preemptively ask all of us what we have learned about this alien world, if we did in fact take part in peeking into this zone using clairvoyance. Whether Altiri know this in advance or not, the mere fact that our efforts to search this planet are purely of our own volition and choice, will prevent any negative cohesion in a more collective setting for those who do want to try it.


    It''s a strategy that isn''t working too well now, but only because more time needs to pass before the curious aggressor groups become comfortable enough to trust in their abilities and their decisions to learn more about this alien species, a time that won''t be long I think. People will eventually want to learn more, and when they do, the scryers will also learn more about the same target, by consolidating all of the data which will come from people like us; in particular, from those who decide to look onto this planet. From all of that data, the Royal Scryers will either chose to continue collecting more information while forbidding any contact, or they will devise up a plan for a chosen select few to become the telepathic diplomats of our world, in an attempt to talk to this species. The second option is much scarier, so they''ll give off the image that this is merely for data collection, for as long as they can, ensuring none are discouraged from learning more in the first place.


    I knew most of this beforehand, and it took me merely seconds to think about it. Sierra must have still noticed everything on my mind though, unable to read all the thoughts which I chose not to project. "Not to worry Lumina. The fact is, there is no established first contact protocol, which means we don''t have to feel uneasy about using our ability, if that is what anyone choses to do. Yeah, the Royal Scryers will be collecting information too, and they may even resort to asking us in meetings about what we find. But all this does is prove they have no intention of trying to take any action to interfere with these beings."


    So she fell for the trap too? "I don''t know what to say to that Sierra. Clearly you missed Nora''s point though." The whole room was wide-eyed about my bold words, but all I was doing was giving her honesty. "That very behavior and mentality right there is exactly what the Royal Scryers are hoping for. If we simply take their word for it and believe that they and the queen will default to the decision of not contacting this alien species, we get used in two different ways at once, playing right into their hands. They''re not our enemy, but I won''t be used like some kind of instrument to later support a decision I may one day oppose."


    "Do you really see it that way?" It was interesting the way things were turning out already. Sierra didn''t seem the least bit bothered by my words; she was in fact smiling back at me, as if she knew what she was doing.


    "What other way can there be to see this?"


    "I know full well what the Royal Scryers are planning to do." After a few quiet and mild gasps, Sierra gave her reasons for her choice already obvious. "If you have already thought of such things, then you must realize that the queen has already considered this aspect ten times over, just as well as her subjects have."


    "I don''t see your point."


    "My point is, that these Royal Scryers are very well going to use the information we gather and collect, whether we do it for them or merely for ourselves. They want as much info as possible, because they wish to make a decision or a possible change in this situation. However, an ill-informed decision is usually one with poor consequence."


    "I see where you''re going with this. You''re thinking, ''why not help them instead? If the scryers get the information they want, then they will be less likely to make any poor choices.'' Am I right?"


    Sierra looked me dead in the eyes for a few seconds with her smile, and I soon found it to be a bit creepy. "It''s the strangest thing Lumina. I''ve known you for such a long time, but I think this might be the first time I''ve ever seen you carry so much question or doubt in the queen."


    "I never said anything about doubting my great queen, and I take some offense to the allegation." It doesn''t matter whether or not the queen can theoretically snoop in on this very conversation; I mean what I say. "This isn''t about trust or wanting to help out. If anything, you could say I''m wondering if those other groups wanting nothing to do with that other world are not as crazy as they sound. I''ll admit I''m still undecided in all of this, but what of their opinions? Why would I ever want to help the scryers if it might mean The Unity makes contact with a species that some of us would rather want nothing to do with?" Does Sierra not take into consideration the thoughts and feelings of these other aggressor groups? We may all be separated by protocol, communication bans, and different backgrounds, but all of us are supposed to be on the same team, of the same mind, perfectly unified. If the queen did one day decide to contact them, it would very well contradict that which her greatness represents, and yet I''ve heard nothing from her to challenge this assumed allegation.


    Putting her hand on her heart, Blissera backed up Sierra, addressing all of us from the comment I just made. "I feel for those other aggressor groups too. Their feelings on this situation are just as important to consider. The thing is, we all have to accept the possibility regardless that this species may wind up being contacted someday. It does nobody good if the choices we make are done out of fear."


    "It isn''t always about fear Blissera!" For the first time today, I could hear my raised voice ever so slightly, and so I took a breath to calm down and explain. I know for an absolute fact that most of my sisters understand the same things that I do, especially Sherika and Rose, who oddly are not speaking up along with me right now, but I''ll address that later. "I get it; the queen is probably not ever going to contact these people if she discovered that they might be dangerous in some kind of way." For example, if the aliens are also telepathic and in addition have some unknown or hidden telepathic alien neighbor with far greater technologies, this would be most dangerous. The queen would consider possibilities even beyond this example; she isn''t an idiot. "But what of the world we target? What will happen to an unaware civilization when we reveal ourselves to them? There''s no guarantee of anything, but there is always the chance that our interference may hurt them or provide negative consequences from our own actions. They might be exactly like us you know."


    "You don''t know that Lumina." Hurma, who has also been a bit quiet finally spoke up, facing me even though it hurt to take any side. "None of us know much of anything, about what they are like, if they really are like us, or even if they have the same dialect as us. We may find out that they would never understand our diction or our voice. They might not even be intelligent."


    "And that''s supposed to make our interference okay?"


    "No one is saying that." Finally, Sherika walked into the center of this crowd, putting herself into a spotlight and speaking what I wanted to hear, though I wasn''t certain if she would take my side on this. "I trust our queen, because I know that our queen would never make any dangerous mistake for us. That''s the very reason she and her scryers want nothing but data at this point, to learn every possible vector before even thinking about taking further action. So if a day comes where she does want us to make contact, I surmise it would only be with great reason. More so to the point, if we for a moment assume contact would become inevitable, it would combine with the notion that there is no danger to The Unity in the process of doing so, mainly due to their immense distance from us; we would never physically reach them, or them us. Finally, if these aliens could in some way be driven to hurt themselves in any indirect way from sudden awareness of alien presence relative to them, then I think they wouldn''t be very intelligent in the first place, not enough for us to want to contact them. Even with that being said, if there is one set of aliens out there, there must also be more, more that may one day contact them instead of it coming from us. My point is, this may be a future that none of us in this room have any direct control over, nor will we ever."


    I expected Sherika to have many wise words to tell us, though I didn''t know what to make of her attitude. "Are you trying to tell us we should just let things happen as they may? What if revealing our presence to them turns out to be negative, for us or for them?"


    "Then I would stand right by you Lumina, and expect you to make the queen aware of this concern you have. I doubt others who feel the same way are brave enough to speak up about it, but our queen is not heartless. If you raise your voice respectfully, she will hear you. If you and I raise our voice together, we shall be louder."


    "Do you think the queen will really listen to us when we are so few?" There are a thousand different aggressor groups, and even Sierra and the Stryders are taking the more accepting approach of wanting to be involved. Why would the queen listen to me or my team when a majority will be swayed by dangerous curiosity?


    "The queen hears all of us," Sherika assured. "I will say, I don''t think it will be easy for us to convince anyone of anything though, if we prove to others to be unknowledgeable in what we feel. The scryers will not be so eager to hear our plight or our warnings, if we know so little about this alien world, where they know much more."


    How have I missed this before? I can''t believe I forgot that knowledge can be our greatest power in the same irony. "You''re saying, we should scan the system and use what we learn to prove our point before a worst case decision could ever be made?"


    "That I am." Sherika knew she was sure of herself, and I could feel her happiness in me having realized the same as she had. She knew for a while this was the right way, but she waited on me to be ready for the answer.


    Somebody has to speak up for those other aggressor groups wanting us to have no part in this other world. They won''t do it for themselves because even so much as scanning the ACS system partly gives in to that which they oppose. However, collecting information about something is not the same as taking any direct action. Using this method, I can...


    My chain of thought cut off for a brief moment in the silence surrounding me, as everyone was looking right at me with some kind of expectation. I''m kind of used to this behavior. Everyone always looks up to me, even in times of uncertainty, for I am the leader of the Cy-Stars, and have been for many years. I guess people just find that quality within me most inspiring; none ever want to wield their authority above me in this group. Still, it reminded me of something very important. "We can be a loud voice of reason where others cannot reach." Me and my sisters; all of us on the Cy-Stars make choices like this together, and I can already tell with such powerful confidence that my sisters want the same thing.


    "Does that mean you have decided on a manner to conduct yourself prior to Meeting B?" Sierra was asking a direct question, though I didn''t understand why she was so psyched that I came to any decision.


    "We have decided, that myself and the Cy-Stars will refresh our clairvoyant abilities, and take to the task of scanning the ACS planet with our fullest attention. If the scryers want information, we''ll give them all the information, the kind that will make them think twice about playing any dangerous game in the future. I will learn from this planet, and collect information without doing anything else about this. Any of my sisters who wish to opt out of this idea may do so, as there is no harm in merely learning or refusing to learn about this planet." I still am not fully certain if anyone on my team has a different feeling about scanning this planet, but I will never force any Altiri to do something they are uncomfortable with. It''s still a little strange to see Sierra going at this in her own way. She''s doing the exact same thing as us, but her reasons and inner motivations are just a little different, enough to feel the rivalry in the air.


    She sighed gracefully, confident and excited, at last announcing the reason why. "Alright then. I promise to wait a bit before our team does the same. I don''t want to get a head start on you, but let''s see just how much information we can gather by comparison. Whoever learns the most before Meeting B wins."


    She thinks this is a game! "You never change sometimes, Sierra." I wasn''t angry or upset at her silliness. It felt so comforting to see her like this again. Now that we''re all decided on what we should do, everyone including me is much more relaxed, as it should be.


    "I want to say the same for you, but..." Sierra and I locked eyes as she held her chin with a smirk, probably to bother me about some nonsense theory.


    "I haven''t changed in the slightest. You should know I''ve always been this sharp."


    "You may have always retained your sense of self, but last time we talked, you just seemed so inactive. It''s like, you''ve been so quiet, so calm, and totally obedient to the peace around you."


    "And that''s a bad thing?"


    "No, not a bad thing. It''s just, this alien stuff is the biggest news we''ve had in over several thousand years. Prior to that, I think you and your mind have been stuck in this strange kind of stagnation, detached from all of us. As I look on you now though, I see someone who has come alive again, more strongly than ever before..." Her words trailed off, only enough for me to notice.


    I knew Sierra wasn''t going to bring up that stuff about my mom again. It is true though, that I''ve been a bit less of myself since all those years ago, shortly after Zinod fell, after my mother died in that horrific explosion, and I''ve been left alone in this world that never changes, spending countless years doing jack all with my sisters until I became numb to every surrounding about me...


    Something Sierra said got my attention; I couldn''t outright deny her claim at all. Noticing only now, I do feel different ever since news of this broke out. My mind is working stronger and faster than it was for the longest time, my body healthy and ready to jump. It''s as if I''ve been hibernating for the longest time, only waking now. Is it because something unusual happened? Does being my full self require some kind of change, some form of struggle or conflict? It couldn''t be; such reality would defy the idea of peace, would it not?


    "At any rate," Sierra revived in our attention, "let''s hang out for a few more hours. We''ve got time and a lot of catching up to do." All of us have been waiting for the moment to talk and hang out with each other, whether we talk or play again. Never was there a time when we fought, only have we helped each other in some ways or others.


    I don''t think Sierra planned as much as it looks like she has, nor did she know with any certainty how this discussion would go down. Even so, it''s as if she''s well within her comfort zone despite the unusual chaos of today... How does she do it? "Sierra?"


    "Yes?"


    "Thank you."


    "You''re welcome... But for which are you delivering gratitude?"


    "I don''t really know yet... But when I find out, you''ll be the first to know." Maybe it was because she and I talked our hearts out about what we were supposed to do about this situation. Maybe the reason eludes my understanding. The matter is, I really do feel better, better and stronger, as if I''ve been reborn to a cause requiring all I am to manifest within me. I think it''s more than myself too. I''ve never seen Sierra this happy before; the smile she didn''t carry when last we spoke. Even my own sisters are more energetic and in the mood, unified with all of us in what is to come.


    Whether or not our future is scary and uncertain, we will do everything in our power to do what is best for The Unity, and what is also best for us, for we are The Unity, us and every Altiri in this vast universe.

 Chapter 004: The Royal Scryers

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    <06/13/136,159 {Avion 134} - 23:11 | Altiri Temple, Genosis, Altiri Sector Space>


    <Karnak to ACS414 Date Equivalent: 06/13/-11,398>


    I can''t begin to explain how crazy today is supposed to be. Today will be the most important congregation of our lives, and yet it still feels so routine. Every procedure from before is currently being followed for this kind of meeting.


    Today was supposed to be our official second yearly meeting with the queen, two out of four each year, Meeting B in the Altiri Temple. However, there were already many differences compared to what would happen in our usual meetings. One such difference was the time and setting of this meeting. Each Aggressor Group gets an assigned cluster of dates for these four meetings that do not change once received. For us, the Cy-Stars, Meeting A always occurs on the first Wednesday of the month of March, or in our language, Cycle 376, 3.3. Consequently, Meeting B will be the second Wednesday of June, (Cycle 648, 6.10). Meeting C will occur on either the third or fourth Wednesday of September, only the third if there are only four out of five possible Wednesdays for that month, (Cycle 1,044, 9.17; or Cycle 1,072, 9.24). Finally, Meeting D Rally occurs on the final Wednesday of our year, in December, (Cycle 1,436, 12.27). Times of day are only what gets moved around most, and each aggressor group gets a totally different and consistent schedule.


    For us Cy-Stars though, our Meeting B was delayed by a few days, instead of the rumors earlier poising truth to the idea it would happen earlier than expected; though today is not a Wednesday for any of us. Anyone with a single brain-cell would know what this meeting is going to be about. General meetings in the Altiri Temple are nothing more than just benchmark meetings between an entire aggressor group''s life and the queen, often including within the meeting her Royal Scryers if relevant. Meetings however can cover any unusual or unique circumstance, be it isolated to one individual or to an entire world. Instead of expecting the usual questions about ''How I''m feeling,'' or ''Have you taken an interest in anything new,'' I was expecting anything but the usual rick-roll.


    Julara, who has worked here as the receptionist has held her position for quite a long time now. Even she was trying to make everything seem so ordinary and usual, despite the fact that other aggressor groups have come and gone from this place in the last week, with many more to come and go after our turn. She wasn''t totally static in her day-to-day life though. From what I can presume must have been written all over my face, Julara made sure to address the uncommon weight in me for this uncommon day. "Lumina! And Junko and the others too."


    "Must I really be referred to as ''the others'' every time I come here?" Rose knew her words were of minor import, though wondered if Julara had some strange reason not to address everyone by name, aside from the obvious that I am the leader of the Cy-Stars.


    "I know it may not look like it from the outside, but the process is being expedited today. Everyone? You will each be speaking to a scryer one-on-one, instead of a usual group meeting with the queen. The queen will later converse with all of you collectively after you leave here today, through telepathy of course." She didn''t even try to hide the uneasiness in her fake expression; Julara knew just as well how different this was.


    I''m wondering why nobody has had a problem with this kind of setup already. "Don''t you think that''s a bit disrespectful? We always come here in these mandatory meetings to speak directly with the queen, as well as her Royal Scryers. Why now must they isolate all of us like this?"


    Holding her head slightly in shame, Julara answered what she could. "I''m not allowed to say, but I can warn all of you to brace yourselves. Depending on what you have or have not seen, this won''t be an easy day, I think."


    So she knows already some of the specifics of what was revealed and released? She must know, else she would have nothing crazy to hide in the first place. "Right... Okay." Even I needed a moment to reset myself. I came here today uncertain what to expect, and it seems I was right to expect the unexpected. What kind of new shock are they expecting from us? Is the shock of learning alien life exists not the largest eye opener of them all?


    I could feel some of the passive nervousness spread to all of my sisters, with all shared origin. I simply glanced back and nodded, knowing there was little I could do about this kind of situation. If this is really the way the queen wants to conduct herself, then none may oppose. Before a minute longer, an elegant woman I''ve never seen before revealed herself behind the main entrance corridor of the temple, entering reception to show herself to us all.


    "Greetings Cy-Stars. My name is Ethsia. I am one of the many Royal Scryers under our great queen. I have been tasked with showing every individual to our many separate spaces for this meeting, where each of you will meet another scryer such as myself. Lumina? I will be speaking with you directly, as my role insists discussing the matter with leaders of each aggressor group specifically."


    Even this Ethsia is not someone I can say no to. It still makes me wonder what exact reason they could have for separating us to discuss anything. I know already that they are not doing this to mishandle our own information. If a single one of these scryers lies to one of us, given we all have mostly private telepathic links to one another, me and my sisters will catch the lie outright and instantly. "Understood Ethsia. May I make one small inquiry before we begin?"


    "I will answer what I can in the scope which I have been granted."


    That''s elegant talk for, ''if I feel like it.'' Oh well. "I wish to incur the reason why the queen herself will not be seeing us, even though the nature of this visit is known to be irregular enough already."


    Ethsia didn''t stutter or think much of it when she replied. "Our great queen is most busy with her related tasks at the moment. With new information coming to light, she must make many unexpected preparations at this time."


    Hm? So even the queen learned something that shocked her? What is this?


    "Also, if I may make a swift suggestion, I ask that all of you currently suppress your active telepathic link with each other, no matter how difficult."


    "And why pray tell would we do that?"


    "Lumina, right?" Ethsia spoke directly to me, despite addressing every Altiri in the room, even in Julara''s presence. "Forgive me for revealing this small intrusion into your affairs earlier. As you know, our great queen instructs us to periodically intrude on the telepathic happenings of other aggressor groups; such is widely known, and is usually done to enforce the aggressor group communication ban. However, our priority of such lately has been to determine the progress and current awareness level of each aggressor group as it pertains to recent clairvoyant scanning of the ACS system. May I presume you already understand why I bring this up?"


    "I do..." It was hard to look at her after such an admission, even though this is fairly normal for everyone here. The queen herself has the ability to snoop into private psionic data of others like myself and my sisters, and to some extent can train other Royal Scryers to do the same. Even something as private as telepathy is never really private, even though the snooping happens randomly with no indication we are being listened in on.


    This also means that Ethsia herself must already understand where we are as a team, in terms of the recent progress we''ve made in scanning the ACS system. It was a task I assumed would be easy. Instead, over the short span of a few months'' time I had to learn about the alien world, the data I returned gave me nothing at all, just a fragmented glimpse of the strange place. I''m not the only one either. Every one of my sisters also struggled to get any echo return data of ACS414, certain we had the destination and target correct. Hurma got more than all of us did, proving there was sentient life down there, but the data revealed very little at all about a particular zone of frozen ice and snow in that other world.


    "Then I am correct in assuming all of you know much less than what our scryers were able to ascertain about this world recently."


    It''s not my fault though. I had Hurma''s help reactivating my clairvoyant ability, but even after months of training, using it at such a long range is surprisingly difficult. It isn''t supposed to be. Distance from a psionic target is not supposed to have any effect on the difficulty of ability usage, but it turns out the reason for this has more to do with different thought dynamics in our immediate space versus distant space. I had to freshen up what I could on psionic theory at the same time. So, I''ve only been scanning ACS414 recently.


    Ethsia continued though, ensuring we all understood what to expect. "This may not be easy to believe, but what you all learn today will not be absent from some negative emotion and feedback. We assume this is best not to channel through several nodes of telepathic monitoring during our meetings, and is mostly the reason why we wish to consolidate data from you all separately. If you would all follow me?"


    So there is more shocking news to come of this. It''s impossible to hide it from me, though I suppose the most I can do now is wait and be patient. "Of course."


    I followed Ethsia down the corridors of shifts and turns while going over all the little scenarios in my head, playing out like some infinite movie of possibilities. I came here prepared today, despite our failure in understanding much about this alien civilization, to address the biggest concern on our minds. Information acquisition is fine, but any planned interference with this other civilization can have major consequences, which is something these scryers and the queen must realize. If any of them tries to downplay this concern, I''ll ensure that our voices will all be heard.


    After directing each one of my sisters to separate rooms with their own Royal Scryer ready to take and give information, Ethsia showed us our room for the day. Aside from the slight mist of the freezing air escaping from the A/C ventilation, this tiny room was designed with unique ascetics, and a frozen one-meter wall with a flat top perfect for placing any personal items on, not that we had any. Ethsia pulled up something from the ground on her side, placing one of many water bottles on top of this counter, as she sat opposite from me, ice to ice and chair to chair.


    I took the offer of the drink, carelessly forgetting to carry enough with me from the ship. These strange designs of our water bottles, made mostly from a collection of non-melting ice creates the shape of a triangular spiral to contain the fluid, enhanced with a certain isotope which prevents the drink from freezing, less it enters our body again as designed. Keeping the importance of hydration in play, I sipped on some of this water while waiting for this meeting to get started. No matter what Ethsia tried though, nothing could keep the growing tension out of the air.


    <hr>


    Chapter Theme Shift: Pax Deorum ~ Enya</a>


    <hr>


    It felt like minutes of silence passed between us before Ethsia finally spoke to start all of this. "Lumina, leader of the Cy-Stars. You have been brought here today to determine on an individual level what you have learned about this mystical civilization beyond our Phobium Cloud."


    "You said it yourself earlier, that you snooped into our minds. Why bother asking us what we know if you know it already?"


    "There''s no need to be crass, Lumina." After taking another breath to reset herself and her manners, Ethsia dispensed with some of her previous formalities. "The purpose of our snooping was inspecific; designed only to answer some basic questions per target aggressor group. One question was whether or not the group took on the task of scanning, or chose to remain stagnant and isolated from the cause. The other question was to determine general progress of such scanning; whether it was going well or not. I know personally that you did not learn much about the alien world Lumina, but it is protocol that I ask the specifics at this time, and that you answer, as though I know nothing of your details. Please Lumina. Tell us all that concerns your decision and findings from scanning the ACS system."


    She''s really going to play the long game, though I can''t say I''m surprised. It only makes sense that they would want our information before handing over what they learn to us, if they do at all. Maybe I can get my point across using this opportunity. "Very well. I''ll tell you everything."


    Keeping my own word, I disclosed every little detail about my recent past, delivering to Ethsia that which concerned me most about this. If Sierra really cared about or previous contest, she probably won by a wide margin, though I made sure to emphasize the dangers of revealing our presence to this alien civilization. It was one of the most important moments I highlighted to Ethsia, about the sanctity of conducting ourselves most carefully as to not disturb or harm a civilization that is likely to be just like us. After about thirty minutes of my recap to her, involving not just myself, but all of the happenings of my sisters too, I let Ethsia take it all in, which took her some time.


    "So I want to get this as clear as possible, Lumina. Your efforts to scan ACS had only the intention to prove to us and the queen, by use of your information and others combined, that we should never-ever consider any contact with these aliens, unless there is a very good reason to do so?"


    "I couldn''t state it any better if I tried." It was oddly relieving to hear it from her though, since I can now be assured she understands my reason for all of this.


    "I''ll first dispense with any fearful notion of this ever becoming a real concern. Between you, me, and the others I work with, this matter has already been discussed into the ground. The queen easily understood the potential dangers to either of our worlds in a contact scenario, so it was never something you or others needed to worry about in the first place."


    "With what you all keep secret, it isn''t sensible to assume from others that we would know."


    "The purpose of this meeting is two-fold Lumina. I only needed to confirm everything from your angle, to ensure we are all on the same page when it is my turn to diverge information, which seems to be at the present moment now."


    "You mean, you''ll share with me all you know?"


    "I will share with you all that is known about the ACS system at least, myself and the other scryers speaking to your sisters now. Such was not only planned, but required as the nature of Meeting B in this star cycle."


    I wonder what they''re like. I was about to learn firsthand all about this alien world right now, and even knowing that, my curiosity expanded so rapidly. It''s so refreshing not having to worry about the morality of our quest, since it was something the queen already shared to begin with.


    "I hate to be the one to inform you of this."


    "Huh?"


    Ethsia''s face held such a serious and stern look, not one of anger, but of premeditated pity. "It''s strangely admirable, I think, when someone like you shows such strong interest in protecting any part of an alien species, as if it were part of some holy policy. Had you been able to learn much more about their world before coming here, well, I wonder if your concerns would have been in the same vicinity."


    "What are you talking about? What information do you think would turn me away from my own honor-bound morals? Disrupting the culture of any civilization would be seen as a negative action on our end, would it not?"


    "Let''s just start from ground zero Lumina." Ethsia, who had been standing a moment ago, took her seat in the frozen chair, crossing her arms and a single leg. "I must first begin with tactical information about planet ACS414, prior to focusing on the personoids, as it entails the current situation of the planetary ecosystem as well as some current events and even difficulties surrounding our efforts of data acquisition."


    "Go ahead." I didn''t want to let her know I was annoyed by this, but I had no choice to listen and wait patiently for the news, even though she decided to hold something dooming over me.


    "Our long-range clairvoyance gives us the power to see the targets of those we want, either from a first-person visual perspective, or from a third-person immediate aerial perspective of the peripheral environment. This variance has allowed us to observe and see visual of what this world is like, as well as observe some visual details of the people on this planet. Because our clairvoyance also includes some sounds, we were also able to immediately identify that this intelligent species, while not currently as advanced in technology as us Altiri, is intelligent enough to use verbal language, of a dialect we do not yet understand. Two major points from this were the confirmation of a serious language barrier problem, as well as the present lack of potential psionic awareness, pending further study."


    So then Hurma''s concerns were more on point after all. This other species doesn''t speak the same language as us, and if they are not even psionic in nature, they may never even be capable of becoming aware of us in the first place... "Please continue."


    The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    "Very well. Using what verbal dialects we were able to congregate, we determined that some of the chiefs of tribes have most commonly referred to their planet by gross material, translating among other possible co-words. The planet surface itself is something quite amazing; there are many different eco-systems within the same lithosphere, tall mountain rages that have reduced temperature zones from thinner atmospheres, plenty of ice and snow in some regions, and a vast majority of the surface consisting of melted mineral water. The creatures however are land-dwellers, preferring a kind of climate that is hostile to our own bodily needs. Much of the land-surface of this planet consists of soil, dirt, mud, clay, and other ground that is suitable for supporting vast amounts of plant life, and so it does. The inhabitants therefore refer to their planet as the very floor in which they stand on; ground, clay; Earth."


    "Earth?"


    "It may come to pass that ''Earth'' will be the chosen nomenclature of this planet by the natives there, in terms of majority, though this remains to be seen. Despite how things are now, it seems that there is more water on this planet than realized. Evidence of a coming ice age, followed by a continental meltdown is the current affairs of their world. However, as I have already stated, there are many zones within this planet that remain in a more heated environment, some places exceeding the 55<sup> </sup>Nixus danger zone of temperature, while others apparently exceed a hundred."


    "That sounds really dangerous."


    "For us it would be," Ethsia agreed. "Our Altiri bodies are specifically designed only for the cold environments, while any proxima encounter with higher thermal energy would dry our skins out, drain all hydration from our bodies, and cause every internal organ we have to liquefy, except for bone. These humans on the other hand appear to thrive in a strange balance zone, favoring a mid-point zone of sixty degrees Nixus."


    "Humans?"


    "Another dialect we picked up, more common than ''Earth''. They refer to themselves by this strange term, humans, long variant of something called man. If you and I are referring to ourselves as Altiri, then their equivalent species name must be known to them as humans. We can therefore cease referring to this race as personiods, since they have aptly named themselves already, despite many variations from dialect difference."


    "You keep saying dialect difference, as if there is more than a single language used on this world."


    "That there is. The humans employ many unusual languages, alien even from each other on the same planet. We have seen that they are a primitive species, their technology level equivalent to how we were near the very beginning of our time, in Avion 2."


    "Does that mean we found them at the beginning of their time?"


    "Hard to say. Evidence currently mounts to suggest that these humans have been there for much longer, though any estimates are not well known at this time, even to their own race. They seem to be at a time in their era of cluster civilizations, disjointed classes of groups and families living separately in peace. While not unified, they are adept at their own abilities for hunting and survival."


    How did I ever think I could teach them anything if they''re so far ahead of me? I''m sure no lone aggressor group learned this much; all of what Ethsia is saying now is coming from all of us, combined, filtered, and revised to make more sense of the collective information. This is the power behind a Royal Scryer system, and how The Unity can learn so much so fast. "Is this the reason why my efforts to scan this planet were in vain? Was it all because I had yet to realize that there were actual information dead-zones all around the Earth planet?"


    "Mostly. We are still just now learning that even some of the individual target humans that we want to use for clairvoyance are not easily compatible with the process of echo return data from thought dynamics, pending further study. Some of it may have also been combined with your rustiness in relearning an ability you''ve abandoned for a little too long, though you should fully recover this power if you keep at it."


    "I see. So some of this is my fault, and some of it is not." Ethsia didn''t try to correct or console me, only because I couldn''t be more right. If ACS414 has super-heated zones of environmental heat where some humans do live, then it means those same humans would have a full immunity from our clairvoyant scans. Furthermore, if they prefer more heated environments than cold, then the larger civilized communities would probably flock to these dead-zones.


    "The planet has an axial tilt, combined with a specific and mostly consistent star revolution and rotation that causes the eco-systems to undergo temporary yet consistent changes, providing seasonal weather which, depending on the time locked to each individual revolution, dramatically changes the average daily temperature of these zones. You in particular tried to target many of these zones during the planet''s beginning of its warmest seasonal duration. I suppose you can chalk it up to bad luck if you want. In addition, their affinity to warmer climate also suggests that their psionic cores have yet to be developed, though, as I said before, this is pending further study."


    "What regions of the planet should I have targeted instead?"


    "There are many isolated pockets of cold space where smaller families or tribes live, and many more that are on the move, using their tools to hunt wild prey. Humans have to drink water just like we do in order to survive, but they also require additional nutrients not present exclusively in their atmosphere or water supply. They find, kill, and eat other animals to satisfy this required condition, some animals larger than them, others smaller, though very few if any of these animals appears as intelligent. As for your answer, Gaul and Kemet."


    "Gaul and Kemet?"


    "There is a vast open landscape of wild lands westward from a central region, a land many refer to as Gaul, among other names. This vast landscape appears to have the most balanced and tempered climate zone, so study of this place is not always available, but the space appears to have a wealth of human population, despite the fragmented density. I have also heard of a zone called Kemet, lying further eastward. Kemet is spoken by locals around the zone, though we have failed to see into the zone of Kemet in 100% of our efforts. The current theory is that Kemet is one of the hottest regions on the planet, blocking off all view we have of this mysterious land. This is about all we currently know about the density and spread of the land on this planet."


    Ethsia certainly gave me plenty to take in. It seems that these humans can live in a wider variety of certain climates, and unlike regular animals, are intelligent enough to build basic tools and speak vocal language, more than one at a time, yet they have different survival requirements, very different from us Altiri. They don''t sound anything like us at all, despite retaining basic shape and form.


    "I''m personally curious to understand their language, as a means of better understanding their world through the indirect means of clairvoyant snooping. Their planet is clearly habitable for them, and even contains a few isolated areas that would technically be habitable for us, mainly the north and south polarity spaces of the planet''s magnetic zone."


    "That would be interesting, if ever we could theoretically reach them, which isn''t possible, is it?" I really don''t know anymore. Who knows if those rumors were actually true or not? I obviously missed a lot.


    "We were able to confirm more than once, that the physical distance between us is even greater than we thought. Our solar systems are in fact so distant, that the light from each star would yet be visible to each other, even if magnified through a telephoto-lens thousands of spans the normal visual range. They don''t appear to be advanced enough to reach the depths of outer space, and we don''t have the technology to warp to the other side of the universe, if ever such technology could exist. The human race and we Altiri are therefore, two alien species to each other, which are destined to never meet. For reason of impossibility by technicality, the concern you brought with you today is easily entertained. We cannot be of any physical threat to ourselves if our arms never reach. Our eyes can see them, but their eyes only see forward. If we ever do decide to make contact with the humans, I estimate this would be tens of thousands of years into the future, if we ever do at all."


    "You make it sound like you don''t want to contact them, but that works just as well for me."


    "Ignorance sure is bliss, isn''t it Lumina?"


    Finally annoyed at the evasions, I stood up so fast that the chair under me slid backwards, though I controlled what little anger was unleashed inside. "Ethsia? Stop dancing around the secret and just tell me already. All I''ve learned so far tells me nothing that would have changed my mind before. What damning detail would have everybody in such a strange shift?"


    Ethsia studied me like some kind of experiment, though she didn''t seem happy at all. "I won''t tell you to sit, because what I tell you next isn''t something I think you will take very well. As we continued our studies of the human race, we determined many other variations of biological differences within them as well, such as the fact that their aging cycles might give them extraordinarily shorter life spans, or that they have a harder time avoiding death than we do."


    "Spit it out already."


    "Do you remember the genetic glitch which gave birth to The Unity''s greatest enemy, the same threat which brought about the fall of Zinod?"


    I gasped, my body becoming colder than it already was. She wouldn''t ask that question for nothing, because everybody here remembers the fall of Zinod, and how Legasso was the only one most responsible. Just recalling the detail makes my blood boil, simmering with a hint of sadness I could no longer remember. She should know not to bring this up! "Why would you ever bring that up now?"


    "Because," Ethsia nodded with discern. "We never had any particular term for Legasso''s genetic difference for the longest time. When he first became known, we looked up to him as a god. When he turned his lust for power into a blade cutting through all of us, we referred to him as an evil tyrant, a hostile person who wanted nothing but war and conflict. We referred to his kind as heathen in our language, not as a name meant only for him, but for all beings in the universe who dare share any similar traits to such a person. And as it turns out, the phrase ''man'' in ''human'' describes this exact same genetic difference, one that separates gender on a sexually divided level; male, and female."


    "What are you saying? I know you don''t actually mean¡ª" I couldn''t finish the thought. She was going into so much detail about heathens and the idea of heathenism that I wanted to just fall out on the spot, but my nerves were tightening too much for me to lose myself in panic. I instead fought the purge to punch a hole right through this steel wall.


    "Every Altiri in The Unity, with exception to Legasso, is biologically female. Once upon an era, we used to procreate using a process within us since our very beginning, giving birth to more of ourselves without having to do anything required for birth. Based on currently observed body structures and other features of these humans, we have determined the presence of two sub-species within the same classification. The first sub-species is most similar to our own, female, in the sense that they may bare and produce more children, and with genitalia similar to our own once they remove their temporary armor. However, the second sub-species of these humans, appears to be biologically most similar to the traits Legasso once had. It gets even worse, because the similarities between the two are not entirely physical, but psychological in nature as well."


    If Altiri had the ability to puke on command, I would have done so now from pure disgust. I had to hold my left hand against the wall, for I could barely stand any longer, my body trembling from the abhorrent and unexpected news. Is she saying there are heathens on this other planet too, descendants of The Unity''s greatest enemy? "That can''t be right. There must be some mistake!" My very breath became rapid, though Ethsia seemed to be expecting even this from me.


    "After checking carefully, we have confirmed that a rather vast number of humans fit the category of both sub-species. While we are uncertain of exact population numbers, there are suggestions that state their population count may soon rival our own. In terms of distribution, it currently seems that about half of all humans are female, while the other are confirmed heathens."


    This can''t be right! This can''t be right! I don''t care how I must appear to her now; she must be mistaken! All of those humans, all of those lives down there, living among so many heathens, so many different versions of Legasso! Their world will be destroyed long before first contact can be made if this is true. How can there be so many copies of Legasso on another world?!


    "We tried looking into the reason for this abnormality, and we are not yet certain of the significance of men on their planet. We do notice that the females do not procreate exactly the same way that we do, in that they do not become pregnant on their own, rather by means currently under investigation. That being the case, even if it is disgusting, I''m sure there is some reason." Even Ethsia, who has remained fairly monotone and professional all this time nearly spat through her teeth in her final word, having nothing more to say, and only the sensation of the news to reach for.


    I cared not for her continued ramblings, for I already heard more than enough. "Heathens! Heathens! Heathens! All of them are heathens! All of them are just like the heathen that destroyed that world, that brought chaos and ruin to us all!" Every nerve tightened in my body. My teeth clenched in a threat to shatter the bones in my jaw. It was all the reminder I needed to see red, to hear his aggressive, spine twisting laugh, mocking all who were below him. "Legasso! He killed them! He killed them all! He killed my mother and everyone else on that world!" It was as if time all around me left the space, reality itself glitched and shifted between the moment of now and the moment I broke all those years ago. The amount of time since the fall of Zinod never mattered to anyone; always was it dangerously fresh on the mind, our strongest memory.


    Before I knew it, it was like I was there all over again, witnessing the moment of doom on repeat, doom amplified into several fragments of time, since he caused so many to happen. The impossible sight of Zinod being blown into chunks of dead burning rock dominated most of our memories, and in its place where my mother should be, there is nothing left but hazy shadows, all information about her corrupted beyond recognition!


    None of the Altiri would ever forget that moment in time, nor would we ever forgive that parasitic monster for what he did, his reasons never justified in all the brutality, in all the death, where Lady Q wanted only prosperous harmony. After all of that, Legasso died in the very same explosion, but he escaped a fate well deserved! That heathen should have survived long enough for us to torture him eternally, until he was a shell begging for death!


    And now all of this? This alien world shows up, and it''s populated by a bunch of evil heathens bearing the same marks as he? That''s unfair! That''s impossible! It''s all unacceptable!


    "Lumina?"


    The voices of my past warmed my mind, clouding all surrounding us. All we knew in this moment of our reawaking and survival was death, the death we shall inflict upon any and all heathens of the universe! "I''ll kill them! I swear I''ll kill them." "I''ll kill them all!" All I realized in the moment was that my thoughts began to escalate to the screech as far as my lungs could carry them. The loud crash beside us was the only noise which brought me back to my senses, just barely.


    Ethsia''s eyes were wide as I''d ever seen them, and she was staring at the destruction I let loose from my left arm. Only upon glancing to my side did I realize how much of my anger I let loose to the current moment, my hand the center of a massive hole collapsing from the damage to the structure. It seemed that I had unknowingly punched this wall in my rage, and as a result, broke a good piece of it into metal chunks lying on the ground. I would have normally apologized in shame immediately, but whatever I felt right now was still too intense, too strong for me to desire caring about the here and now... But after enough fast breaths, I seemed to find myself again. "I¡ª I..."


    Ethsia just sighed, so uncertain was I to guess what she was thinking. "It''s alright Lumina. I need you to remember that the people on Earth are out of our reach. We couldn''t kill all of their heathens even if we wanted to, though they could never touch us up here anyway. As upset as you are, what happened in the past is over now. I need you to stay level-headed at least, as we are not under any real threat of heathenism at the moment."


    I couldn''t help it Ethsia! I couldn''t help it... Nothing I could say mattered anymore, for in my aggressive breathing, all I could do now was apologize in silence, as I trembled before tears anew, dropping from my eyes. Ethsia wanted to hug me as I stood here going from crying to sobbing, though she refrained from touching me, due to the hole I split into the steel wall. Though I could get only muffled sobs from my breath, nothing I said would ever make this okay. "I''m sorry Ethsia! He killed so many people! He killed my mother, and the friends of all my sisters too! I don''t know what else to do."


    Humiliated by my own display, I kept letting the tears soak my rough hands, haunted by every horrifying memory of the past I wished I could forget, and tormented by all the positive memories I wished I could remember. Too much changed that day, and I ceased being the innocent person I once was. Most of us Altiri are innocent in such conflict, but now our hearts rage with vengeance left burning eternal, our justice for those we lost never served duly. Legasso and anyone of his gender has ceased to exist in our present world for just over a hundred thousand years. I thought I would never see or hear about a live heathen ever again, but that new world of certain ruin is filled with them!


    "That''s the fourth time we''ve had to repair this wall. I know how you feel Lumina, but everything is going to be okay." Ethsia knew not to be surprised by this development. Most Altiri in this world have almost the very same reaction to this specific news. Others too have used violent outburst to deal with their repressed anger, and it would only break hands and bones to reinforce the wall any further.


    How could I forget that I''m not the only one who feels this way? Still, the fact that I still can''t deal with this without breaking down only proves I''m not any better than I was before. Sierra might have thought I''ve changed, but she couldn''t be more wrong.


    "Listen to me Lumina. There is zero shame in how you feel, and if ever you need even more people to talk to, we offer personal counseling here as well."


    "Almost everything I ever cared about was taken from me Ethsia. So you tell me how in the world counseling is supposed to help any of us!" I can''t ever feel better about this. In my last military training session, I broke down just like I did a moment ago, and the instructors were not so pleased by the display. How can I ever possibly hate heathens this much, enough to train killing them, if I can''t hold my own composure together doing so? All those painful memories of the past keep flooding up no matter how much time passes.


    "Being this upset isn''t the problem. It''s what you do in that moment that counts most. You can schedule training sessions any time you want; in fact, we''re offering all Altiri expedited training to help them attain better control..." Ethsia was silent, perhaps realizing that I didn''t care for her condolence, not coming from someone like her. "Or did you think people like me were immune from such distasteful practices of malice?"


    What is she going on about? Ethsia was looking at me with the same face I made a moment ago, fighting back painful tears as she really spoke to me for the very first time today. "We''re all just elite Royal Scryers to your aggressor groups. Our thoughts and feelings are supposed to be put second just for your sakes when conducting personal meetings, and you even go so far as to assume we don''t feel the same way, that we are merely puppets and drones to our great queen. Even she is most distressed about the very same thing you just learned; it is the reason she is not making personal appearances."


    It wasn''t something I could put together right away, but I knew I should have felt bad now. Here she is, one of the infamous Royal Scryers, the most professional kind of Altiri in our entire world, letting her emotions project to me directly, proving that her heart is not made out of gold. Does the queen realize that her own policies force such separation of understandings like this? Does the queen understand that even those most loyal to her suffer as everyone else does?


    No... Ethsia just let slip that the queen herself is getting a taste of the same medicine. If even our great queen is upset about the same news, then all it proves is that we are all the same; we are all important and one with each other, together, existing, unified.


    When I lost control of my own anger last time, the only thing that brought me back were the voices of my sisters, forcing me to realize that I wasn''t alone anymore. When that beautiful world blew up, all we had left was each other, our greatest instrument of all. Our hearts cry and sing together, always and forever. If I''m this bad at handling the situation, I bet the others are crying out in pain too. "My sisters!" I chanted, realizing where I should be right now. "I need to see them."


    "You will soon. The meeting is almost over, I promise."


    "They were all told the same, weren''t they?"


    Ethsia hesitated, standing stone still before nodding to confirm. "All of them are being told the same thing at the same time. As for what we discuss after, I figure that should be obvious too."


    I realized only now why they wanted to separate us this way. What I just did, it wasn''t my best display. Had I been standing next to my sisters, I may have accidentally hurt them. Otherwise, if I were in front of the queen, such a display would ill-suit me greatly, humiliating our entire team. Who knows how far our rank has dropped since? "You''re just going to have to say it. Even if I can feel all your pain flooding my mind, you''ve walled off the rest of your thoughts."


    "You made a big deal moments ago, about displaying the desire to protect the cultural interest of this alien world from our interference... Do you still hold that desire now?"


    I wanted to ask how she could even wonder what my answer would be. It was still a curve I had not foreseen, and so I was left silently considering every vector and possibility. No matter what I thought about before, the impassible fact is that this alien world is tainted with evil, an evil most strong and potent, it shall spread to the entire sphere, consuming all that exists there, until that world is one day destroyed. "The heathens that are on that world will one day move to control their planet. Even if lots of females exist on that world, the proportion of heathens dwarfs those who might be innocent, unlike how it was in our world. Those monsters have already violated the sanctity of what could possibly be called a potential paradise, or intelligent life for that matter. I want nothing to do with ACS or its people. The world may destroy itself before long. If that happens, good riddance."


    I folded my arms as I spoke, too certain of my words to take any of it back. I still feel the fires of vengeance burning in me so strong, how much I would love to land on that world, to slash and slaughter every last heathen until there are no more! It is a cursed world with a cursed future. Heathens retain within them an irredeemable evil which they will all pay for, whether I make them pay, or whether nature takes its own course for us.


    "In fact," I continued, "why are we even discussing it? The world is tainted with heathens, so first contact protocols would automatically be out of the frame of possibility, would it not?"


    "I would think so myself, but until I hear it from my great queen directly from her lips, such will not be ruled out. I surmise we will be in agreement with this once the queen has had such time to reflect on the matter."


    It was a loaded answer I would have to accept, but only with the peace of mind we all needed. "Ethsia? If a single Altiri person tries to ever contact one of these heathens, especially to sympathize with one, well, you better be prepared to do something about it, as I will act first if none act quick enough."


    "You know that would never happen. In the span of our entire history, I know I''ll never live to see a day where humans and Altiri could ever get along, especially if it involves a single heathen."


    "Glad we can agree on something..." I hope my sisters are doing okay hearing all of this.


    "I know. Never would have thought the alien world would be so vile and untamed."


    "Are you scryers even going to continue watching this other world?"


    "I know that at least that much will be resumed by at least a select few. I think other aggressor groups may continue to watch as well, at their own discretion. It may be a while before we resume efforts though."


    "Yeah..." I can''t believe I was still holding in that much energy. I''m going to have to keep up with training, now more than ever, just to ensure I can handle myself in the presence of such a monstrous enemy. Still, I never thought I could agree so much with one of the Royal Scryers...


    Ethsia was right, unfortunately. I and the others had this strange notion about them, that they were merely stuck-up Scions who only cared about raw information... They''re all people instead, people just like us, people who feel pain and anguish despite masking it for their important roles. "I''m sorry Ethsia."


    "It''s okay... Are you going to be okay?"


    Is it not so obvious? Ethsia was right on point; I have every right to feel this way, but I lack the control I need to harness that energy for anything greater than an outcry. "Not for a while." I was always like this, though I used to be worse. I don''t understand why I forgot my mother, but when it happened, I guess I just lost all sense for who I was, and it took countless visits with Sierra until I was good enough to continue more days without my best friend... Huh... Looks like she won our little contest, but lost a bigger battle because of it.


    "I''m sorry?"


    "Don''t worry about it." Guess Ethsia didn''t have a clue who I was thinking about, but it''s all for the best. I don''t mean to gloat at all. I simply wonder what Sierra would say to me now, after we meet up again.

 Chapter 005: Sisterhood

    <hr>


    <04/01/69,120 {Avion 68} - 14:14 | (Sierra''s Starship), Genosis, Altiri Sector Space>


    When someone important to me dies, I weep, I cry, and I break. No matter how long I hold it in, nothing can restrain the flood of tears or the shattering of my heart. How immortal are we really, if accidental death can come to claim us? How much longer will it be now, until our population slowly declines all the way to zero? We may not age quickly, but control over life and death is something no mortal has, be it some other alien, or us Altiri.


    But it turns out there are more ways than one to die; I never knew of them all until now. Even if we survive, our will to live may not. That which once gave us purpose can be extinguished as easy as thruster light, leaving behind someone who knows nothing, cares for nothing, and dreams of entropic nothingness and oblivion without alternative.


    When my mother died that day, in the star date of 49,139, September 22, I thought it was the worst feeling in the world, that I had lost everything and would never get it back. It turns out there was something even worse than this gut-wrenching sensation that consumed us all, something only I was responsible for. Legasso may have killed my mother, but he did not slay my thoughts of her. If I can so easily forget every single detail about the person who once loved me, am I any better than a disgusting monster? It''s better to fade in this isolated shell of nothingness I''ve hid myself in.


    "I understand... No, it''s okay. We''re all here for each other after all." Sierra sighed, yielding nothing but silent concern as she softly held me on her lap.


    I lay to rest, my body, my thoughts, and everything I ever feel. I rot awake; I do not sleep, and now I exist in a state between the living and the dead, where I assume to belong.


    "Oh Lumina," she whispered while stroking my long soft hair, taking care of me while her crew did the same for my other crew. On her ship again, all of us were together as we had been before, though a tsunami of sadness dominated all control. "I know you think this is all somehow your fault, that you had perfect control of your memories..."


    Nothing she could say would ever console me, as I knew the truth. This strange memory loss about my mother is something shared by many Altiri alike, as if some wave of memory wipe had swept through us all... If only that were the case, maybe then I wouldn''t have to blame myself. However, I''ve checked this several times. Not all Altiri were affected in this way. Many do remember their lives long passed, the women who birthed them and loved them. If they can remember where I have failed, then it isn''t anything beyond some messed up psychology, right? I can''t even remember her name or her face. What kind of daughter am I, to forget something so important, to lose something so precious to me? I remember the name and face of a mass murderer, but not my own mother; those are the undeniable facts, the qualities that make me useless in any society. So I continued to lay here crying. Even when my eyes were too tired to storm, my heart would take over again and again, days turning into years of this.


    I love Sierra and Blissera; they are like sisters to me too, even though we are in different aggressor groups. Even so, nothing they say will ever make this okay.


    "I wish I could see you smile again Lumina. Nobody deserves to suffer like this." Sierra wasn''t referring only to the present moment, but to other moments as well.


    Further into the past, my aggressor group, the Cy-Stars ran into the crew of the Stryders and the Radion during a joint temple meeting following the Fall of Zinod. After some time, we started communicating with each other more, despite the communication ban. I never understood why, but hearing Sierra''s voice when she would speak to me, it was almost magical, like some kind of cosmic healing energy was reaching out for me. I realized later how silly I was, to not notice the simplicities that we were merely bonding, becoming best friends.


    I met every one of them that day; Sierra, Emily, Malica, Heather, Brighter, Leanne, Kristina, Tabitha, Tracy, and Regenia. I met those in Radion too; Blissera, Amanda, Linda, Alice, Judith, Nora, Erica, Reiki, Nataliee, and Urrie. It took us a long time to get along this well, but somehow we all fit together like glue. It''s the reason we were allowed to make visits to their starships; the reason why the queen would often look the other way with our three groups.


    Now look at us. Sierra is trying to make me feel better, a woman who has given up on everything, throwing away every emotion that shattered from my soul, until I was convinced there was nothing left but an empty shell. I wanted this after all; to feel nothing was the only way I could stop hating myself all these long years. It is a different way to die, but it is an end I have chosen for myself.


    "Even I don''t remember what happened to my mom, nor do I understand why our memories on this have degraded so badly." I knew she wasn''t fully truthful just now, after I overhead Sierra and a scryer talking one day about the reason.


    Supposedly, the theory is that our collective focus on our hatred for heathens went a few priorities higher in our minds than other important memories, and so that which fell under was wiped away in a collective moment of trauma, the thought of their lost lives too painful to bear. Anger and a drive for vengeance was apparently easier to deal with, simple and clean compared to the mourning of the millions we lost that day. Even if it is only a theory, it is no excuse for of us.


    "But I also don''t think we really die when we leave this world, you know? I think all we lost, those we love, they are out there somewhere, in a world so far away from us, in a place we cannot see."


    So she believes in the afterlife? I cared not how convenient it was for Sierra, her life slightly easier because of some belief none could be sure about. We may have recently discovered the Astral Plane, but its full purpose, and the destination to where our souls go to after we''ve been there for ten days is all a mystery. Who can really say if our lives are truly eternal? My mother is dead; nothing can change that. I cannot hear her. I cannot see her. I cannot remember her. If there is no afterlife, then death really is the end of all things. If there is an afterlife, then the only closure I will ever have lies on the other side, my life forfeit in either scenario.


    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    "I know you probably don''t believe in that stuff, but you should know Lumina. You''re not alone."


    I wanted to argue, to speak up or say something, only to shut her up. Sierra is trying to make me feel better and whole again, but it isn''t possible, since I don''t deserve it. Before I could say anymore, to agree or disagree with her, two of my sisters walked right up to me in unison, their eyes and thoughts matching in harmony.


    "She''s right you know. I don''t remember either, and I hate myself for it. It''s somehow worse than it felt when Zinod was destroyed." It was rare for Hurma of all people to admit anything defeating in her own attitude; she stood so serious here and now, and so did Talor, who was right beside her.


    "I know it isn''t much, sister, but we are all in this together. We''re here for you when you need us. You still have people in this world who love you and care about you... I hate myself too, but I don''t want to die just yet."


    "Talor," I mumbled aloud, refusing to sit up from Sierra''s soft legs. "If you feel the same way, explain how it is you can continue to go on."


    "It''s simple," she started. "I want to keep living, because even though I don''t remember much, I do remember one small thing, something my mother once told me. She wanted me to live on, even if something happened to her, a moment before The Exodus. She wanted me to live even if she didn''t make it, so I want to keep going on for longer. I want to find the answers as to why I forgot everything else, the answers to why she wanted me to live in a world that no longer changes and has such bleak hopes left. I want to know where we end up, even if it takes a hundred thousand more years to get that far."


    "That''s nice." I won''t even use my mouth to speak anymore; everything was pointless, though Talor decided to cease the telepathy for a moment after.


    "The thing is, I won''t do it without you."


    We both paused, my eyes squinting in annoyance with her delusions. Finally, I sat up on my own power, disembarking from Sierra''s comfort, so that I may look Hurma and Talor both in the eyes. "Why?" I demanded. "Why do you and the others keep insisting on having me as your leader? A monster like me isn''t fit to lead anybody."


    "That''s enough smart talk out of you Lumina."


    Again, I knew I wasn''t wrong, but I didn''t expect Sherika to make her way over here just to state her peace in person. "Sherika. You know! I know that you understand what a horrible example I am, someone who could forget someone too important to me."


    "For the last time, all of us forgot the same as you. Whether or not that makes us all monsters, all you want to do about it is wither away and give up on everything. Problem is, I''m not going to let you keep going this way."


    "And why not? Why must you force me to do something I don''t want to do anymore?"


    "Because I love you. You didn''t forget about me or my friends, and I''m never going to forget about you."


    I didn''t want to show any surprise or reaction to Sherika, but like before, what she said forced me to think in so many complex matrices. Also, hearing what she just said to me, that she still loves me, it''s too much for me to handle right now. Why must she be so cruel?!


    "We all love you Lumina; we all love each other." Hurma emphasized her words, holding Talor''s hand, who then reached for Sherika''s. In a matter of a minute, everybody onboard the ship, even among Sierra''s exclusive crew came together to join in this strange yet soothing harmony. "We may have been strangers before, but we are family now. I''m as broken and upset about this as you are, but I''ll be damned before I let myself or my sister give up after everything we''ve been through. We all have a future together Lumina, and we''re going to make sure you are part of us."


    Nothing they said should have made me feel any better; that''s what I kept telling myself anyway. Though, I had yet to ever see so many of my family and friends in such agreement, not only for my sake, but for theirs as well. Hurma didn''t say what else she held in her heart, and she didn''t have to, for I could feel it from afar. This love she carries for me applies in all directions, to everybody else in our groups, and in the desire that I should feel the same way towards her...


    I shamefully glanced away from them, trying anything I could to deny the merit behind everything they said, but I couldn''t shut them out at all. I know too well how Hurma feels, for I have felt the same. If all they want to do is live, for the hope of truth, for the goal of better days among each and every one of us, how could I ever denounce them? "I love you too." I still felt like I could crumble at any moment, but looking into Hurma''s eyes, I knew I would somehow be okay. This holy covenant that binds us all together, it''s a love too strong for words, something far exceeding the boundaries of our psionics, a savior for all of us foreign in this logical messed up world.


    After what felt like minutes of silence, Rose embraced me in such a cold and soothing hug, reminding me through my thick walls that I wasn''t as alone as I thought to be earlier. "Something like this isn''t going to be something I can just rise above... But I''ll do my best, if you give me enough time." I can''t get over this horrible feeling, ever. Maybe, if I''m not okay with who I am, I can try to be better, to be someone more worthy of my title as a leader to my sisters.


    "Good enough for me... Can we break out the games now? I think it would make all of us feel better." Fionne knew the leisure would help in her own recovery, and by extension assumed the same might be true for me, so I didn''t oppose.


    <hr>


    Chapter Theme Shift: I sun ~ (Blue Reflection OST)</a>


    <hr>


    All of us spent twenty more minutes just talking, catching up with our general affairs and what has been going on. Not much new has happened in our world, with small exception to the excitement for the scryers to work together to better understand the psionic science that Herios recently developed and left behind.


    It wasn''t the easiest time we''ve ever had, but all of us grew ever closer today, with plenty more to come. As Fionne suggested, many started to relax more, preparing some of us to play some games, either in pairs or larger groups.


    There isn''t much of anything to do up here in outer space with each other; we have no specialty assets or machines that would produce anything wonderful, only what we come up with in our minds. One popular game of pairs is always a competition of guessing games, where one of us tries to guess what the other is thinking, without the cheat of telepathy. A more involved game is something we call Truth or Dare, though lately our games have not lasted for long.


    One of my favorites is something called Imagine Game. It''s exactly like our number guessing games, but expanded to an expansive sense of reality. All of us try to imagine a different world, a better world than this one, with all kinds of amazing and new circumstances. It''s as if we try to guess the aspects of some far off alien world. Whether it feels realistic matters not, for any world of our imagination is always so amazing and wonderful.


    Despite how dead I feel inside, there are fleeting yet powerful sparks within, right in the places I hold my sisters dearest with love. Junko, Rose, Sherika, Derria, Hurma, Talor, Ashiela, Fionne, Lulu, and Luna; all of them are with me. All of us were forced into those shuttles, blasted into space, and forced on these starships, terrified and wanting the very people who were taken from us by force. All of us were strangers to each other, but what we shared that day went far beyond the trauma that would rip into us all. What we shared that day was a common understanding of each other, about the pain in what we all lost. Somehow, we all got along really well after the fact, and it seems we get along even better now.


    I never thought I would have a family of any kind ever again after what happened to us, but I was somehow lucky enough to have them here with me. It doesn''t change what happened. It doesn''t even make any of this any easier, but when they look into my eyes, I can''t help how much begging we give to each other, begging to help, hoping to recover, as I glimpse a fleeting spark of myself in them, while they glimpse sparks of themselves within me.


    For the rest of the festivities, everyone was passively checking on me, to see if I was really feeling better. It wasn''t something I could ever be sure of, so I smiled and played things off regardless. Every word that was said to me today held heavy on my mind, impossible as it was to come to any certain conclusion about where the future will take us, with The Unity, or without.


    Nothing lives forever, and in this harsh world descending into a soft, gentle decline, I have to wonder about the biggest question of us all.


    Why do we exist?

 Chapter 006: Dance of Mira

    <hr>


    <11/02/149,012 {Avion 147} - 04:00 | Corral Position, Genosis, Altiri Sector Space>


    <Karnak to ACS414 Date Equivalent: 11/02/1456>


    When we first discovered what other life was out there, everyone was curious, eagerly waiting to know exactly what was on the other side of our world. We wondered what the humans were like compared to ourselves. When news about the heathens in their world reached everyone, The Unity was shaken back to sleep for a long time. Thousands of years passed after our initial discovery before any returned to the desire of their eternal curiosity.


    So much has been changing since. Despite the heathens on Earth, aggressor groups from everywhere decided to learn more about the world, using the clairvoyance we''ve mastered stronger than ever before, our eyes ignoring the ugly, and instead favoring the beauty. For as much evil as there appeared to be within the people of that terrestrial world, the souls of others would sing powerful symphonies of life through their daily words, their thoughts, and their actions.


    Humans are split between two genders; male and female. The answers we had not before eventually came to light, that humans reproduce in birth through a strange process they currently refer to as sex. When a man and a woman get together to perform sex between each other, the process of pregnancy in the female is initiated, and the rest carries out much like how we Altiri used to know.


    It''s a strange concept to us, and even stranger to me, since our last generation never bore any children, myself included. I''ve had a mother, yet never produced a daughter. Whatever natural function we once had in parthenogenesis was somehow switched off and disabled, a couple thousand years before the exodus. Human lifespans are so much shorter, yet they reproduce to numbers greatly exceeding our own today, spreading around their world, colonizing the land in many places.


    Not everybody on Earth concedes to the larger culture around them, and the disconnected colonies provide so many differences and pockets of freedom, meaning anybody may grow up to be of any variety of strengths and faults. This allows for many women to avoid any negative culture or indoctrination to those wanting to power over them, at least sometimes. It is for this reason why, when we look to the Earth now, among the men and women, there exists a few hidden gems, people of interest as I refer to, who grow up highly perceptive, highly sensitive, confident in their individuality, and thereby so different from the others.


    Not much has changed with us. One look at a male is all it takes to set any one of us off during our clairvoyant monitoring; I''ve lost my temper more times than I can count. We don''t watch this planet to keep our eyes on the enemy; we instead seek out whatever we are in the mood for. With the millions of different humans, often times will some provide us with a unique or amazing story. Some girls face challenges. Some women try to change for the sake of a heathen they want, or try instead to change that heathen into something they prefer. Some look out to the stars in their sky, wondering what else might be out there for them. Some drown themselves in mystical mindscapes of their imagination, dancing and singing to the music they remember. Some devote themselves to certain roles created for them, and few choose to live alone.


    Thousands of years ago, I said some pretty awful things about the human race. I don''t love them at whole, nor do I envy their way of life. When I learned what was on Earth, I wished for that world''s destruction through proclamation of what was most likely... But now, every time I take another peek on this faraway planet, even though heathen existence reigns supreme, I feel some kind of hope for some of the women there, even when there shouldn''t be any, often times when there really isn''t anything there.


    I thought I knew these people and their behavior to the point of perfect accuracy, but through time, I''ve been realizing that no one human is really the same inside. Everyone is their own unique person, embraced in their perfect imperfections, co-existing despite their usual lack of total unity. I don''t know why or how I can feel this way about some of the girls there, who are in almost all aspects inferior to us Altiri. Is it sole curiosity? I think not.


    I may have gotten involved for such an arbitrary reason, treating human lives like one large, never-ending entertainment show, and I think all of the other aggressor groups have been doing the same. There''s something a little more to the human race though, something I feel I''m on the brink of understanding. It exists in the deepest depths of other people, and my telepathy doesn''t work on those humans, since they lack psionic powers and awareness.


    May this be the reason now, why I''ve become so interested and enveloped in my current target? Like myself, my sisters have been following the same lead, searching for and finding random humans to watch with clairvoyance, so that they simply have something to learn from. Some humans are boring, while others are incredibly interesting.


    I could swear sometimes that some of these people feel things that I''ve never once felt before, as if they have some kind of sixth sense of the world around them. Maybe some women see and feel things that simply aren''t there, or perhaps they sense something invisible to all of us. My current target isn''t exactly like that to any extremity, but this seventeen year old girl has immersed herself in an alien song and dance which I''ve deemed most unusual and interesting.


    Mira is what they call this human. For reasons I know not, she lives and works alone, safe and cozy inside a strange log cabin with a roof made of retractable leaves and straw, mended together so that the night sky is visible and reachable from indoors. I doubt she built the place by herself, yet this is where she lived for a while it seemed.


    Mira would often absorb lots of beautiful music that was played to her from strings and vocal, sacred hymns and words she would repeat when she got home. Today of all days was one of her strongest moments of all, as her singing and dancing became so refined, so confident as if she were performing, even though she was alone under the stars of her open home, right in view where I could see and hear her, our senses in perfect harmony.


    <hr>


    Chapter Theme Shift: Orionco Flow ~ Enya</a>


    <hr>


    Yes, I felt everything she felt now, her hypnotic movements and angelic voice was mere seasoning to the energy she was giving off in the bright night. Spins and twirls under the sky to the memory of music played back so pristine and strong, stored and sang from crystal harmony! Mira is another hidden gem, and I am here to watch her learn, watch her grow, watch her express everything she keeps locked away from public eyes.


    "Vie, Vie, T?ee Vie~ee." Mira sung to her words so loud and proud that such energy seeped through me as I listened, and before I knew it, I was prancing and dancing around, matching her moves.


    "Night, dark, hush all hush thee." Even though I was alone hearing her, I wanted to sing along, to join her joyous charm. It wasn''t long before I found myself repeating the same words as her in synch.


    "Burn in, burn out, pull a line, push a curve."


    "I no break, I no cry, bring me dark, I bring light."


    "I will shine, I will shine, I will shine all night."


    "I will shine, I will shine, I will shine all night."


    "I will sing, I will dance, I will turn alright."


    "I will live, I will die, I will reach my height."


    "I am light, we are dark, in the world - we will flow."


    "Hear my words, feel my thoughts, in the world - I will glow."


    "I will shine, I will shine, I will shine all night."


    "I will shine, I will shine, I will shine all night."


    "I will sing, I will dance, I will turn alright."


    "I will live, I will die, I will reach my height."


    Keep turning! Keep dancing! I wished I could be there in person, cheering her on, holding her arms, linking my senses to hers. I''ll move with her body; I''ll sing as she sings!


    "Vie, Vie, T?ee Vie~ee."


    "Night, dark, hush all hush thee."


    "Burn in, burn out, pull a line, push a curve."


    "I no break, I no cry, bring me dark, I bring light."


    "I will shine, I will shine, I will shine all night."


    "I will shine, I will shine, I will shine all night."


    "I will sing, I will dance, I will turn alright."


    "I will live, I will die, I will reach my height."


    "I am light, we are dark, in the world - we will flow."


    "Hear my words, feel my thoughts, in the world - I will glow."


    "I will shine, I will shine, I will shine all night."


    "I will shine, I will shine, I will shine all night."


    "I will sing, I will dance, I will turn alright."


    "I will live, I will die, I will reach my height."


    Keep going!


    "I will shine, I will shine, I will shine all night."


    "I will shine, I will shine, I will shine all night."


    "I will sing, I will dance, I will turn alright."


    "I will live, I will die, I will reach my height."


    "I am light¡ª"


    "We are dark¡ª"


    "In the world¡ª"


    "We will flow."


    "Hear my words¡ª"


    "Feel my thoughts¡ª"


    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    "In the world¡ª"


    "I will glow!"


    "I will shine¡ª"


    "I will shine¡ª"


    <table style="border-collapse: collapse; border-style: hidden">


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td style="width: 62.8447%" width="390">


    "I will shine all night!"


    </td>


    <td style="width: 37.1553%" width="390">


    "I will shine all night!"


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    "I will shine¡ª"


    "I will shine¡ª"


    <table style="border-collapse: collapse; border-style: none">


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td style="width: 62.6667%" width="390">


    "I will shine all night!"


    </td>


    <td style="width: 37.037%" width="390">


    "I will shine all night!"


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    "I will sing¡ª"


    "I will dance¡ª"


    <table style="border-collapse: collapse; border-style: hidden">


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td style="width: 62.6844%" width="390">


    "I will turn alright!"


    </td>


    <td style="width: 37.3156%" width="390">


    "I will turn alright!"


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    "I will live¡ª"


    "I will die¡ª"


    <table style="border-collapse: collapse; border-style: none">


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td style="width: 62.6324%" width="390">


    "I will reach my height!"


    </td>


    <td style="width: 37.0651%" width="390">


    "I will reach my height!"


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    For what felt like eternal bliss, all I knew was Mira, her words, her song, her thoughts, her dance. Never did I care how we looked, lost in our own immersion of a world we could feel but never quite see. How I wished we could have danced like this forever.


    <hr>


    Chapter Theme Shift: I sun ~ (Blue Reflection OST)</a>


    <hr>


    With her energy coming to a fall, I slowed my moves and reactions to her, only silent enough now to notice the other tall one standing in the doorway of my private side of the main room. "Eep!"


    "Eep?"


    I had no idea what noise just left my lips, but Junko''s sudden presence before me brought the weight of a stone wall slamming into me, figuratively. "WH¡ª why didn''t you announce yourself to me?!" If looks could kill, I would have died a hundred times over, and my eyes could not meet Junko''s directly.


    With a soft chuckle on her smiling face, Junko folded her arms, curious about the strange behavior I''ve been presenting lately. "I never realized there was such a requirement. Our wise leader never made us aware of precautious intrusion... What exactly were you doing just now?" Junko wasn''t the least bit upset or confused, her tone only drilling my embarrassment in further.


    "Nothing," I lied.


    "Didn''t look or sound like it to me..."


    "Mhmn." Still could I not look her in the eye. I''ve never once felt this way before, so it wasn''t something I could understand well enough. As much fun as I was having earlier, I wished Junko wasn''t here to see my strangeness, especially since she would not be able to see Mira doing all the same things. Something about her watching me for part of that moment sent shivers through my body, filling my face with shame, knowing nobody else would understand. Why can''t she just take the hint and go away?


    "Aah, I''ve seen this expression before on other humans, rarely. I think this might be the first time I''ve ever seen you so embarrassed."


    "If you know, then why must you lay it in deeper?"


    Junko actually glanced upwards in thought to my question, pondering something she might not have been aware of yet. "Good question... I get it; you didn''t want me to catch you dancing like a weirdo. I can''t explain why, but seeing your reaction to this is so refreshing. I mean, it actually feels good to have embarrassed you... I don''t know why."


    "And you say I''m the weird one..." This is so strange. I don''t even know why I feel this way to have been caught, but I can''t help it... And it seems Junko can''t help herself! "Why are you laughing at me?!"


    Junko was in fact laughing with her hand covering her mouth, as if she had witnessed the greatest forbidden display of all time. "I''m not. I just think it''s cute, in a strange kind of way." Junko already knew I was observing Mira as more of a long-term target, so I''m sure she put some of the pieces together already.


    "Yeah, well you better forget it. If you tell any of my other sisters about this, I''ll get you back a hundred times later."


    "Well..." Junko held her index finger to her head, looking guilty by the faintest of margins, which made my heart dance to a faster tempo. "I normally wouldn''t, but Rose was kind of in pair with me when I found you like this, so..."


    "So she knows then?"


    "Sorry Lumina. I didn''t know you were going to be busy." Rose truly was dragged into this by mere chance, but I could hear her struggling not to laugh too, all the way through the other end of our telepathy.


    I wished now I could punch her without causing too much harm. "I can hear you laughing too Rose."


    "What? No, I''m not laughing... I''m just practicing some mental noises I heard from this one human, who¡ª"


    "You''re as bad a liar as me." "Oh-hoho!" I buried my face into my hands, knowing I would never live this down for the rest of my life. I also know how Rose is. She''ll take her time to let this secret simmer, and let it rip out later to the others, letting it climb for dramatic effect, the result of letting her spend too much time with Nora.


    "It''ll be okay Lumina." Junko walked up to me, hoping to comfort me in some way, even though we both knew nothing would help with that. I can''t take back what I''ve done, and Junko cannot unsee what she just saw. For the rest of my life, I''ll be known as the one who was doing some weird dance. If only Junko could have seen Mira in our most brilliant moment, she would totally understand, right? "You just got a little too carried away with this Mira is all. I''m kind of envious that you can find someone to shadow for so long."


    I kept speaking through my fingers, Junko unable to soften the blow I''ve already dealt to myself. "I think now I understand why people behave so differently when others aren''t around." I was mostly referring to the humans we''ve been observing. I''ve more or less seen circumstances similar to this very moment for other humans, who are cautious about revealing any bit of their personal lives to others, no matter the importance. It also reminded me that Mira had no idea, nor will she ever know that I''ve been immersively observing every aspect of her daily life lately. After all she was doing a moment ago, I wonder if she would react in the exact same way as I, knowing her amazing dance was not as private as she thought.


    "I''m guessing she was doing some kind of dance and song?"


    I only nodded, unwilling to speak until this feeling passes me by... Why isn''t Junko being swallowed by my humiliation? Is she that immune from it?


    "It''s perfectly natural to get carried away and immersed into the lives of those we watch." Junko wasn''t using any gibberish, at least regarding the last phrase. Ever since the humans have slowly begun to pick up our own language, the amount of eyes and dedicated focus to particular individuals has changed our very way of life. "Though, I guess you''re one that does so more strongly than the rest of us."


    "What do you mean?" Is she still making fun of me for this?


    "I mean, it''s almost like you have some kind of pinpoint focus on everything you look at, more than me at least... Must every person you watch be so deep and intense?"


    I only now realized what she was asking, though it was very difficult for either of us to explain. I do pay strong attention to those who interest me, and usually, those who interest me have something deep and intense about them, compared to others nearby their proximity. "I''m not fond of watching those who wilfully delude themselves about the world around them... I like Mira. She''s doing the best that she can, but no matter what happens to her, it''s like she always stays so genuine to herself, around other people who warp to fit the social constructs they bend to... She''s insightful, enough to know where there is beauty."


    "So the insightful catch your attention...?"


    "Why are you looking at me like I''m from some other planet?"


    "I''m not. It''s just nice to learn something new about you after so many countless boring years... You know something weird? I can barely remember a thing about the past, at least where it concerned cycles that had nothing happening for us at the time. I remember other moments just fine, but most of the days I spent doing absolutely nothing, they never come to my recall."


    "I agree with you... But why is this relevant?"


    "I don''t know," she admitted. "Maybe it''s just... Well, maybe this is a good thing, what we''ve been doing for the past few thousand years. We discovered ACS414, found these aliens living there, and we''ve been watching them ever since. I can remember so much more about this than anything else. I still recall other important things of our past, even all that stuff about psionic theory and what Herios did for The Unity... Maybe that''s what keeps us alive; whenever things change."


    I felt like saying something back to her, but the wisdom of her words forced me silent a little longer. Those on Karnak have a bit more to keep themselves entertained, even though they too can view the Earth using clairvoyance. However, out here in space, among all of us in every aggressor group of the Altiri military, our primary job is to defend the gravity well zone of Karnak externally, from any possible alien invader, despite the fact that our ships don''t shoot fancy lasers or launch explosive torpedoes. Our presence here in space is a deterrent if anything, to make a bold statement to any who cross our Phobium Cloud that they are mistaken to mess with us. Of course, this was all designed never knowing if we would find life, friendly or hostile, and we''ve been in space for nearly a hundred thousand years now. The point is, in day-to-day life on these ships, there is almost never anything to do. After I''ve had a taste of how interesting and enriching some humans live their lives, it''s as if I cannot stop myself from watching more of them, like some kind of dependency or addiction.


    Our world never changes, yet the human world is always changing, still so young and full of life. Maybe this is why they are so interesting, since there is never really a dull moment with them. If that''s true, then Junko must be right, that change in our everyday lives rejuvenates something inside of us, whether that change be positive or negative. Time, as it is, keeps us going. "I guess you''re right about that."


    "I know I am." Junko wouldn''t say it, but I could faintly sense what she was thinking when she told me that. She was thinking back to me actually, to a time which was eons ago, when I nearly let my spirit suffocate under the weight of my despair. When I lost my mother and my memory of her, I was forever broken. Even after that day, when my sisters helped me feel a little better, though I improved, I only did the bare minimum for what I had to. Despite what we all said, I was still merely a shell of my former self, so stagnant, always half-conscious; sleep-walking through every dull moment. Time seemed to pass much faster this way, but none were uncertain that I was so dead inside, and that I was not the only one to turn out this way.


    These days though, I feel so much more than I used to, like something inside has brought my senses to full life, though I''m sure it could become even more intense. I think there are some humans on ACS414 who can get this way too, despite our severe difference in life span. If humans become too calm and comfortable, or if they let themselves drown in enough despair, their spirit sleeps, and their energy wanes.


    I don''t know what it was that makes Mira happy, but she was so alive today that I just had to share in her glory; I wasn''t wrong to link my energy and senses with hers. "I''m still going to punch all of you if you make fun of our dance ever again."


    "No funny business, promise." Junko was serious enough, but I know she won''t speak for Rose, who we both know will tell the others in due time.


    People have become so strange lately. Nora has become oddly obsessed with human sexual science, Derria has taken a keen interest in traditional human sciences, others have allowed their curiosity to overtake the anger and fear of witnessing heathens on that world, and the queen has long since authorized a measure by which Altiri aggressor groups can get directly involved in the lives of the aliens in ACS. Though it took a long time, the no-interference policy was tossed right out the window, yet most of the others who were against it no longer see it as an issue, myself included.


    I thought I knew everything that day, but it turns out I knew nothing. "I want to learn more."


    "Say again?" Junko really didn''t hear me, though only because I barely whispered what I was thinking.


    "I want to find even more targets like Mira for study. There must be other human girls in the world that have such strong expression. If we keep studying them, we''ll continue to understand human behavior so much better."


    "Slow down a moment... You''re not suggesting we actually¡ª"


    "Did I say so?" My stern remark cut her presumption down quickly. "I may get carried away, but I''m no idiot. I would never force all of us to make such an important decision with so little reason for it, and even if I did, you need to stop acting as if it would only be my decision."


    "But it really would be your call."


    "Not happening!" Junko, and everybody else, don''t you dare give into the notion that I would make you all do something you could never take back without your own say. "It''s something that affects all of us, and so, if ever that day comes, the decision will be unanimous. Even though I respect the queen''s rules, I am nothing like her. Understand?"


    "I¡ª sure." Junko seemed slightly jostled from my assertiveness, but I had plenty of good reason to do so. Some pay too much tribute to the authority level of leadership positions within aggressor groups. I may be the leader of the Cy-Stars, but every single member is more important to me than anything. Their lives matter just as much as mine, so any decision that concerns them is something I cannot withhold.


    "So," I reminded, "what were you going to talk to me about, before you rudely interrupted our dazzling elegance?"


    "If elegance means funny, sure." Before Junko realized her mistaken thought projection, we could both feel the tightening fist I made with my right hand to her remark, and she got to her point quicker because of it. "Eh, I was simply going to invite you over to Fionne''s ship. We were planning a short get-together, to compare some of the stories we''ve been seeing from our targets."


    "I''ll join, but when it comes turn for me to share, you can forget it."


    "You really don''t want to at least talk about Mira?"


    "If only that''s all you were planning. Not to worry though! I''ll protect Mira''s cute secret from all of you!"


    "Now who''s the one being silly?"

 Chapter 007: Hells Breath

    <hr>


    <07/18/145,838 {Avion 144} - 16:40 | Corral Position, Genosis, Altiri Sector Space>


    <Karnak to ACS414 Date Equivalent: 07/18/-1718>


    I wish I could be more certain about every choice I make in my life. How different would things turn out if I had the ability to redo something I question or regret? Why must every turning point in time beseech so much anxiety? We''re always afraid that our actions may one day prove to be one colossal mistake which can never be undone or rectified.


    With or without this power, so long as we still learn from our mistakes, we can confidently take pride in our growth. However, we''re all still learning so much. None of us will be certain anytime soon if our interference in the human world will lead to despair and woe. It may turn out that we shall never be certain of such choices.


    "Calibrations complete. That''s all for now." Junko turned her head slightly to meet mine, while I had my focused view straight through the forward cockpit window of our starship, displaying the vast skybox of outer space blended with the hint of blue between the distant stars. "Anyone home?"


    "I heard you." My mind has been so active lately, confused and centered on every aspect of our two worlds. Before I realized it, a full, long-term montrum enveloped the corners of my passive imagination. I was constantly wondering about our future, rather than the mere detail of our shared existence. The Altiri world and the Human world are no longer as separate as they used to be, our involvement certain in a recent announcement by the queen and her Royal Scryers. It was a decision I thought they would never-ever make... And yet, I don''t feel all that upset about the news, perhaps because too much time has passed since, or perhaps because I stopped caring about the benevolent direction of ACS414.


    I wasn''t ignoring Junko; I was simply keeping my mind busy. The frequent manual calibrations we must input into the navigation program is one of many to crux our daily operations, a necessary process to ensure the AGCR systems are handling their task amidst the constant output of external gravitational flux between Karnak and our star. With it complete, we can ignore any further input for several hours, doing nothing but thinking or talking, or something else...


    "Still thinking about ACS414?" Junko knows already it''s more than that. She already dedicated some time recently to check in with Earth using her long range clairvoyance, as have I. Not too much has changed in their world over the thousands of years, except for the fact that local colonies continue to branch and spread outward, increasing our visual range of what our psionic eyes can see.


    "I''m wondering why they''re planning to initiate first contact with humans." It''s news everybody knows about, including those on the surface of Karnak. Despite all previous concerns, the royal team finally lifted the no-contact protocol, under very specific and complex circumstances of course.


    Much of this must have been influenced by the slow and gradual evolution of human behavior. They gradually grow more intelligent through further generations of birth, and long after the ice age era of their world, the humans have continued to adapt and expand beyond their original position of their initial spawn of existence, wherever that may be. We''ve been capable of observing more colonies and more locations including amazing scenery as a result, but that isn''t the only thing that has changed in human society.


    Many thought the Earth would have a short finite number of days to remain peaceful, myself included. However, we instead realized that through a lack of global unity, technology, and fettered lifespans, it''s presently too difficult for the heathens of that world to take control of any large groups for conquer and world domination, at least for now. When their society reaches a higher state of development and unity, this will certainly change.


    I can''t fathom the reason why anyone would want to make contact with these aliens when our worlds are so far apart, when we are so separate and different. In fact, I never thought it was possible, given their lack of psionic abilities present throughout their race. Apparently, this experimental process called the purge has the ability to construct a psionic bridge between two people across the vast distance of the universe. Nothing is certain yet, but I know Herios must have been one incredible genius for coming up with such an involved process. Sometimes I wonder if she could see this far ahead in time, and if she could also see how this all ends.


    Bored of my vocal silence between us, Junko delivered her opinion on the matter. "I think it''s because, we''ve stopped looking at the human race as a collective species, and instead focused more on individual units in their world. Their colonies are so separate even now, enough that some of them are living in entirely different worlds and circumstances from each other."


    "I don''t see why that would motivate the decision to get directly involved."


    "It''s the idea of individualism. The humans are not a hive mind species, and so even if a majority of them are tainted, there are many other single humans who have better morals and ethics. If such people do exist, then the motivation for contact wouldn''t be through some random human ambassador or disciple; rather, it would be targeted to those specific individuals."


    "But what if word gets out? What if a single purge changes too much too fast? I could care less if the heathens are disturbed by our presence, but if there are more innocent people in that world, wouldn''t our interference bring more problems than it aims to solve?"


    "It sounds more like you''re scared of what could happen, rather than what is more likely to happen."


    I''m more amazed Junko doesn''t see this as such a big issue. Ever since the announcement, those other aggressor groups I once championed for haven''t raised as much resistance to the idea like I thought they would. All this time, what have I been trying to do? What have I been accomplishing in all of this mess?


    "But there''s something you''re forgetting as well. Even as we speak, the queen is trying to decide exactly who and how the first purge will be used. Just because a purge is authorized doesn''t mean everybody will jump at the chance to try it. It actually isn''t allowed by anyone who isn''t in the Altiri military, and then we would still need permission from the queen with details of our intended target, as well as lots of preparation and dedication since it somehow affects the entire team instead of the leading node. It may sound like everything is being decided right now, but I think the scryers won''t really do anything for a very long time."


    "Okay," I reminded. "And what if you''re wrong?"


    I saw Junko open her jaw as she was about to answer, when she was interrupted by a series of abrupt pings or beeps to the small monitor in front of the chair she was sitting in. The noise and protocol was of course highly unusual to us both, so she shifted priority. "Looks like we''ll have to pause this conversation. This is a level three alert."


    "What is it?" I knew I could only wait in curiosity, since the blip only appeared on Junko''s monitor. With only seconds of typing commands, Junko quickly identified the issue.


    "The condenser in our rear cargo room is being overworked. There''s another level one alert from the condenser in the dark matter reactor room. We''ll have to check it out."


    "Understood." Rare as this is, I can''t say I''m surprised. There are only five possible alert levels for system warnings, with level five being the highest. If one of the many condensers routed in the cargo room is causing problems, we''ll have to ensure nothing is out of place in that area, before shutting it down if we have to. Equipment malfunctions do happen in a spacecraft as large as this one. Everything runs really well and for such a long time, but when I''m alive for as long as I am, it still feels like this is a routine occurrence. "I''ll follow you to the cargo room then."


    In agreement, Junko nodded after standing up from her seat for me to follow. I wanted to keep our previous conversation going, for the sake of so many questions still left unanswered, but our current situation requires too much focus for leisurely conversation. One can never get too distracted when piloting a spaceship, or investigating it for any problems.


    Once we reached the furthest reaches of the massive cargo room, Junko and I were both facing up towards the corner of the metal ceiling, in the place we knew the condenser to be.


    "I don''t see any leaks, dents, or signs of exterior issues. Looks like I''m going to have to shut that unit down for now. We can pilot the starship into the temple hangar later." After Junko''s brief inspection, I was calm enough to relax. As it sounded, this was all routine. Parts simply breakdown over time, and the only useful mechanics are onboard the Altiri Temple.


    I was just about to revel in our continued safety, when the sound of an aft explosion, muffled by many meters of hull shot both of us awake. Before we could react to the distant blast somewhere inside of the ship, the emergency sirens blasted through the networked speaker system, sounding a global level five alarm. "What was that?!"


    <hr>


    Chapter Theme Shift: This Armour ~ Halo 4 OST</a>


    <hr>


    Junko glared back at me with more fear in her eyes than I''d ever recall seeing before, and I could only share in the same reaction. Despite what I mentioned earlier, this was anything but routine! "We need to get back to the cockpit, now!"


    I''m not about to question my second in command, for I know she will figure out the problem before I can, since she''s seen more of the system''s logs today than I have. Without delay, Junko and I sprinted out of the cargo room, through the halls, into the main room, and finally the cockpit area again. We ran as fast as we could manage, slow enough not to slam into walls, given our top speed on foot can be above 260 miles per hour. Once back into the cockpit, Junko sat down and mashed that keyboard like a lunatic! I''m amazed she didn''t enter any mistyped characters in our shared panic.


    The constant blaring alarm and sirens didn''t allow me to relax, but I knew it was better to be awake and alert for a sudden emergency situation. Whatever is wrong with the ship can lead to a deadly situation if we don''t act swiftly and intelligently.


    "Found it!" Junko continued typing keys as she reported the problem to me, correcting her previous error in judgment.


    "Update me!"


    "Looks like the cargo bay condenser wasn''t the problem, only a symptom. That explosion we just heard? That''s what used to be the secondary reactor condenser."


    "Used to be?!" Those condensers are designed to last for thousands of years without maintenance, but this is the first time I''ve ever had one explode!


    "The A/C system is struggling to keep up with the sudden change, and it''s bringing down condenser number three as a result."


    "Can we stop it from wrecking the entire system?"


    "Lumina! Get in your seat and help me isolate the Freon flow to critical areas."


    "On it." There isn''t any time to lose. I still don''t know exactly what happened, but it looks like the A/C system will be in trouble if we don''t act fast.


    "Reactor temperature is normal. We can ignore any power fluctuation changes." Like me, Junko switched from her physical voice to her telepathic voice, allocating more of her energy to her hand movements, while I did the same.


    Her update was one upside to this emergency. Energy reactor meltdowns are not pretty, and they can be impossibly intense coming from dark matter containment. Not one minute passed with such intense nervousness, when I finally executed all the terminal commands I needed to. "Done! Airflow has been rerouted!"


    As soon as I did this, the sirens ceased, filling the space with a silent calm, all for but two entire seconds. Before we could calmly celebrate, the alarms reactivated again, this time with multiple level five alarms, some hitting my terminal while the rest hit Junko''s.


    "What now Junko?"


    "I''m looking! Don''t rush me too much!"


    I knew I would need to give Junko more time, but with the alarms going off again, this proved to us both how serious our situation was. Since we had also been using telepathy long enough, one of our sisters caught wind of this lively moment as well.


    "Sherika here. Is something going on down there?"


    With Junko as busy as she was, I took over the brief disruption of our focused efforts. "We have to concentrate on the crisis Sherika. We''re declaring a level two emergency. Keep your teleporters ready in case we need to evacuate the ship."


    "Understood." Sherika left with absolution in her voice, rising to the crisis as much as we had. I''ve never had to abandon ship before, but today might be that kind of day.


    Huffing after finding the issue at last, Junko updated us once more. "This is bad. The stress in the system had been accumulating earlier, so now the Air Conditioner doesn''t have enough juice to cool the entire ship to its effective minimum!"


    I understood every unspoken detail behind her worry. Our starship has over a dozen condensers all working together, reducing the stress and load of the primary air conditioner unit. The life support system pumping breathable air into our hull has no bearing on the situation. The problem is the reactor room. The internal reactor is working just fine, but the external air around that same reactor is quickly heating up from the loss of the main condenser in that specific room, despite cool air from other places venting into the zone. If we shut off airflow to the reactor room, then it will become too hot for normal operations. If we shut off the reactor itself, we won''t have power for very long. With two condensers already out of the picture, the increased stress will add to the remaining condensers, leading to the possibility of a catastrophic chain reaction, potentially followed by a meltdown afterwards. "But I already rerouted the Freon flow away from non-critical areas. Is it still not enough?"


    A new alert pinged in front of Junko and myself, reporting of critical alterations in probe values. This was already going from bad to worse. "Looks like your solution isn''t going to save us. The air temperature inside the cargo room is rising! Lumina! Shut off the airflow to both our rooms, but keep the A/C running to the rest."


    "Executing!" With no time to waste on thought, I entered the commands I needed to, finally understanding how bad this was about to get. It only took me six seconds, and when I was finished, all airflow to the cockpit and the main room were shut off. That means life support isn''t on for both of these areas, but I wasn''t finished yet. Even if Junko doesn''t state the command, all pilots know what additional actions must be taken afterwards. Even a scary situation like this is drilled into our training. "I''m isolating condenser seven so that it only spits out airflow to the cockpit." It won''t last forever, but it is still a good way to buy more time if we become trapped in here. Right now, I''m more worried about the escaped heat leaking into and then out from the cargo room.


    Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    "Your executions are confirmed. Cargo room is still rising, with some areas already reaching sixty-nine degrees Nixus!"


    My whole body trembled with a twitch of fear knowing where that was. Most of the rooms inside this ship are not isolated with sealable doors, so that air will slither and sink until it reaches us. I can''t blame myself for trembling; any Altiri would panic if warm air gets anywhere near their body. The effect warmth above 50 degrees has on our bodies is toxic, the result always fatal. At sixty nine and higher, any form of inhalation will trigger nerve failure, while our internal organs begin to liquefy. If that warm air reaches the cockpit without cooling back down first, both of us are dead. "Can we stop it?"


    "Negative. The stress on the A/C isn''t easing up. Had it been any other two condensers, we would have been fine. We need to dock with the temple for emergency repairs, or abandon ship. Now it''s your call Lumina."


    Junko gave me such a strong stare, certifying that as leader and primary pilot, I would have to make the next call on how to proceed. Learning more information is always a priority before taking action. "Keep monitoring the temperature. I have to check and see if our current power output will allow for teleportation." Warping off the ship will be easier, but it means sacrificing the entire starship, permanently so. If we can''t fix the problem before we can dock, and there is nobody to periodically calibrate the AGCR, this ship will eventually plummet into the ice of the planet below, pulled in by its external gravity. That is still preferable to us dying, but if the reactor is being overdrawn by the crisis, it means the teleporters won''t have enough power for more than a single warp, assuming there would be enough for one. Even if there was enough power, it also takes time and calibration to configure those teleporters to the chambers of any other nearby ship, time we might not even have. In either decision, we can''t waste any time, so I must first confirm if there is enough time to get the hell out of here.


    Meanwhile, Junko will continue monitoring the probes and echo back any alarming results to me. "The A/C is keeping the air from rising above seventy Nixus, but that warmer air is already spreading to the rest of the ship through diffusion. It''s already going to hit the main halls in about two minutes or less."


    The main halls connect several long corridors to other parts of the ship, but they also connect to the main room, which is the large room that sits right through the opening of our cockpit, a cockpit without any kinds of doors. If the heated air reaches the main room, well, that''s where the teleportation machines are stationed.


    "Keep monitoring..." It took more time than I wanted to, but I was able to confirm what I needed to. Strangely, the reactor was doing just fine on power output. Good news one out of two would be passed because of this. Now we have to address the other problem. "Junko? How long until the heat breaches the main room?"


    "We''ve got nine minutes. If it seeps into the main room, we''ll take the hit at about the same time, due to our position." That means, ten minutes tops if we''re in the cockpit, and eleven minutes if we''re directly in front of the teleporters. It takes just under five minutes to configure a teleportation chamber... Wouldn''t leave us with much time at all, and Junko is only guessing with her timed prediction. If she''s too generous, deciding to warp out will kill us both...


    "Your orders Lumina!"


    I know! I have to make a tough decision right now. If we instead abandon the idea of the teleporters and try to fly directly to the Altiri Temple, we could make it in about 110 minutes on maximum thrust controls. In addition to that, there will be plenty of cool air re-entering this room from the vent I rerouted, and several bottles of pure water stored in the overhead cabinets. Either choice is a risk, and I have to buy more time in either scenario. "Alright! Prepare the ion thrusters for max acceleration. Course should be locked for the Altiri Temple docking bay. I''ll let everyone know what''s going on while you get to it."


    Junko didn''t argue or point out to me that either decision would have its risks. We both know about them, including all of the dangers of operating in outer space. We''re both putting on a brave act right now, but high thermal energy is more terrifying than anything I could imagine.


    Ever since Herios invented the wondrous resurrection machine, we''ve been able to use it frequently to bring ourselves back to life if something befalls us, so long as the body does not suffer damage too severe and significant. Most causes of death are ignorable with that awesome machine, but it isn''t foolproof. Just because we can live forever doesn''t mean we always will... That building heat coming to get us will turn us into literal puddles of melting flesh. No machine in the world can restore us from that fate. This isn''t like other situations where someone is in danger with a chance of resurrection. If we die from this, it will be a permanent death.


    Of course, running out of breathable air is something we can come back from, and it''s a possible scenario since the workers at the temple will need to vent our air to cool off this bucket. I''d rather suffocate and die than burn alive from the inside. Humans can seemingly tolerate lots of heat, but for us, sixty-nine degree air has the same effect as lighting our body on fire from the inside.


    "This is Lumina to all other Cy-Stars! We''re declaring a level five emergency! We will be docking with the temple as soon as we can, in order to avert the crisis. If you follow us, dock in a place with plenty of distance to our ending point."


    "... We will, but what exactly is wrong with your ship?"


    "Maybe she''s trying to warn us that they might explode after docking, and that we shouldn''t get too close."


    "Hurma! Now is no time for those dark conclusions! Let''s follow them in. They may need our help warping out."


    "Negative," I repeated. "Warping out isn''t going to be an option for us this time." Especially not right now. The single minute we just spent on this decision has already locked us out of the possibility of warping off this ship before the fiery air breaches the same room. "You mustn''t attempt manual docking either, since the air in that zone will be contaminated."


    "Thermal air contamination? That''s really serious Lumina!" Derria knew as much as we did, but as they already knew what they needed to, it was now time to inform the others.


    "This is Lumina from Cy-Stars to anyone at the Altiri Temple. We need to make an emergency docking! Reason: thermal air contamination! Please confirm all preparations will be made."


    "This is Royal Scryers Ethsia. We hear you! The queen has already become aware of your situation, but it sounds like it will still take you some time to arrival. Keep in mind Lumina, we may have to vent the entire hangar, and your air supply with it."


    "That''s fine. We''d rather suffocate than burn."


    "Understood."


    I should have known the queen was listening in... She probably only began doing so after sensing our serious panic and fear from what was going on after long enough. Even if others have no access to our minds, if we have a strong enough emotional experience, it can leak out everywhere, as this is the nature of Though Dynamics.


    "This is your great queen speaking. Lumina? Junko? I''m here to help you out as well. Is there any assistance that you need where it involves information about emergency protocols?"


    "There isn''t. We may be able to salvage this entire mess, but there isn''t any other option we can take in the meantime. I have to go." Cutting off my link with the queen, I gave my focus where it was needed, as Junko was trying to get my attention.


    "Lumina? What are we supposed to do about the thermal contamination? It''s already starting to seep into the main room!" She didn''t wait to tell me that; it was something she learned as she was speaking to me.


    "It''s already here?! Help me Junko!" I jumped out of my seat facing the arched door as if it were a powerful adversary, though I dared not step one foot forward.


    "Help you do what? It will take us hours to reach the temple! Our cockpit doesn''t have any door to seal that heat off!"


    "I know, so we have to make one."


    "Uh?" Junko didn''t seem to catch on to my plan until I finally started to charge what energy I could.


    Both my hands were already tingling, while the color of my eyes started to glow brightly. All of us Altiri have one more special ability, one that is almost magical in nature, though it is purely natural and scientific. Remembering all I could about flash-condensation, I took aim with both my hands, sensing Junko was now preparing to do the same, realizing my idea. "We''ll seal the door with ice!"


    As soon as I was ready to, I let all of that building energy out, flashing two solid beams of freezing water from my hands, all while waving them in certain directions to create a bit of a spiraling motion, just as Junko did the same. The quick high-pitch zap of the ice beams was painful to our ears, but the evanescent beams of negative-thermal energy and water expulsion did what we needed it to do, creating a powerful and thick makeshift wall of ice, fully blocking every crevice of space between that opened doorway and this cockpit room.


    Before I could even celebrate the amazing display we just put on, I already found myself sinking to the floor pretty hard. Trying not to pass out after shooting beams of ice is a challenge, but I''ll recover just enough energy to get myself more water to drink. I won''t be able to use that trick again for all of today, but that thick wall of ice should hold back against all of that warm air on the other side, hopefully for as long as it takes us to safely land in the temple.


    Yes, blasting a forward area with a beam of ice is possible; no magic or unknown voodoo necessary. It''s actually a variant of our lost ancient ability to melt frozen water with our hands. With practice, we can create intense and powerful air vibrations through the pours in our hands, and direct that force inwards, so that the air in front of us combined with expulsion of melted water from the pours in our palms solidifies and condensates in a mere flash of an instant. Ice is simply another form of air and water, and we have the power to bend it to this purpose, even though it takes so much of the water inside of us to do this.


    "Did it work?"


    At last, I could give Junko a smile of solace. I could tell from here that the wall would hold for more than two hours. The room outside will heat to about seventy degrees Nixus (75 degrees Fahrenheit), but with the power and A/C system still running, and the isolated setting of ventilation I have for the cockpit room, this space will stay right around -70 Nixus. Because of this, the ice won''t melt as easily. "It worked Junko. Let''s drink water before we fall out."


    Storing ample supply of water bottles in our cockpit room is mandatory, mostly for emergency situations like this. Junko and I had no problem replenishing ourselves, and I had to calm my sisters following from their ships, worried about the both of us.


    "That was some smart thinking on your part." Junko knew I wasn''t too much into receiving praise, but I couldn''t blame her given how bad things got a second ago.


    "It was the best possible option." This entire situation could have been controlled if only each room had some kind of strongly sealed doors in place we could control.


    Of course, I knew of the reason why the designers to date are still refusing to have these doors installed and implemented. The biggest problem to that idea is our dwindling supply of physical resources. It was a miracle a fleet as big as our military could be built from all the metal and other elements found in lurking asteroids and fragments of Zinod''s debris. There is enough to put doors in every ship, but it would drain the supply so much, general maintenance would suffer.


    Not to mention, doors involve moving parts, especially when they have to be capable of sealing all air off between rooms. Moving parts in physical or mechanical machinery always fail before anything else, in our experience anyway. Between all the motors and electronic circuitry remaining in the rationed supplies, much of that would vanish as well. Doors are more of a liability than any assistance in most internal starship emergencies. It''s for this reason no ship really has them, at least between the cockpit room, the main room, and the teleportation area.


    "Come to think of it," I realized, "we should have simply cut all power and vented the reactor room as soon as we understood the problem." There was a third option after all, and none of us thought of it in time. Venting individual rooms of all air into space is something we can do from here. Had we done that to the reactor room only, all air inflow from that passing point would not drag the heat all around the ventilation of the A/C system as it was doing now. In fact, it may still be a possibility.


    "No, you''re forgetting that we would have to be much faster for something like that to work. It''s true that the one condenser that blew was the most important one, but we would have to first confirm a lack of any breaches before venting the room. Plus, for all we know, the explosion could have damaged any one of the ventilation intakes inside. If it has, then such action would have affected other areas as well while starving the A/C system entirely, and our life support with it." Junko didn''t include that every room of the ship can last with days of air without life support, but I understood her evaluation well enough. I can''t believe my last-minute decision was the right call.


    <hr>


    Chapter Theme Shift: Inertia ~ Carbon Based Lifeforms</a>


    <hr>


    By now, Junko and I were back in our seats at the controls, taking full control over the manual navigation to reach the temple... An eerie silence filled the space, silence that proved all was well, though it put me on edge. "This is good. Looks like we''ll make it... Just keep using telepathy though. I don''t want to even chance running out of air from speaking too much."


    "The life support is still on. We shouldn''t run out of..."


    "Figure it out yet?" I know she has. I order to give us any air at all, I had to basically change the airflow from condenser 7 to intake already cool air and spit out what we''re getting now. The problem is, with the current configuration, it''s only getting this air from the two rooms we isolated and shielded from this wrath of warmth. We''re not using the life support normally or as intended, so even with it running, our time against suffocation is about the same time it will take us to dock. If I want to add anymore air to our supply, it will only come from the contamination outside, killing us instantly. It''s also the reason condenser 7 isn''t being stressed to handle this; since it isn''t drawing any contaminated air.


    "Right. I forgot."


    "We''ll be okay. This might be the worst crisis I''ve ever faced on a ship, but we did the best we could. We have to land and leave it up to the others afterwards." It''s still a scary thought. There''s a chance of us both dying today from suffocation. I''ve died and come back to life more times than I can remember counting, my damaged body restored every time. If it happens again, all that will happen is a figurative reset of my age, as is custom here, plus losing the last four months of my memories. Good riddance to this day if that does happen.


    Though it took a few more minutes and silent effort, Junko managed to relax herself again, matching the calm I''ve since achieved. "Yeah, we''ll be alright then, thanks to both of us."


    "You did just as well as I did. You''re getting faster on that terminal than I am somehow."


    "I have to, since you seem to like spending so much time thinking off alone that I simply inherit the job more often."


    "I feel bad about that. I''ll make sure I take more of the workload if that''s really the case."


    "No, I insist you keep doing what you''ve been doing. I don''t want to make you do the calibrations if you don''t want to."


    "I said it''s fine. Don''t worry about it Junko."


    "... It''s a wonder that you''re so calm right now. My arms are still shaking a little."


    I didn''t realize until now that Junko was so freaked out by what happened. "It''s okay Junko. Besides, I might be calm, but that doesn''t mean I''m not upset." Keeping calm is only a means to avoid freaking out; it doesn''t quell the disturbances in our heart.


    "Upset?" I imagined Junko would only be unable to sense how I feel right now due to both our anxieties, overshadowing everything else. "What for? We made it. You don''t mean the designer, do you? We had maintenance recently; and I don''t think they could have caught this before it happened."


    "I''m not upset at anybody Junko... Except maybe myself."


    "You and I both just saved our own lives, at least for now. I don''t understand you."


    "It goes back to our conversation earlier."


    "Huh?"


    "You might have forgotten, said you would pause the conversation, but I can''t make myself forget about that stuff."


    "If you''re still so hung up on the thought of contact with other aliens, I''m sure the queen will really hear you out if you speak your mind."


    "I''m sure she would, but that''s not really the issue anymore." Junko might not realize it, but after today...


    "Lumina...?"


    She was only interested in me now because of the tears I couldn''t hold back. I might be calm, my expression may be unchanged, but now I know for certain I was wrong. "After today, I realize the reason some of those humans behave as irrationally as they do. None of them are perfect, most of them far from it. Every single day they are alive, they have to face another side of the world they don''t want to, that which haunts the depths of every mind; expiration of us all."


    Junko allowed me to cry my truth from within, giving us time to process the weight of all I''ve learned.


    "We almost died today Junko, not in any way we ever have before, but a death that we would have never come back from. It''s rare for that to happen to us the way we age, but every human on that planet has such short life spans and further dangers, they have to come face to face with that every moment they are awake. So I have to wonder, even if we can be calm in a crisis like this, are we really any braver than they are?"


    "I don''t get what you''re trying to say. Are you upset because you should have been braver than you already were?"


    "Mhmn," I nodded. "I''m upset because I''m too cautious about them. I''m too worried about something I can never control. It''s not that I want to avoid communication with humans because I hate them. I don''t want any of us to ever make a mistake where our actions hurt the feelings of a human who we might one day grow to care for. You know as well as I do that any scryer who targets a human for purge will only target the hidden gems of people, the insightful, the sensitive. Even if I''m not the one to take the action, I along with everybody else here are representatives of The Unity."


    "You''re saying, you don''t want to hurt anybody who is innocent, psychologically that is?"


    "Yes... However, I''ve realized that if we communicate with anybody, hurting that other person, even unintentionally is unavoidable. The wonder we share with others in mutual awareness, drives us with wonderful purpose, and hurts us with inevitable absence, in break or in parting from this world."


    "Hm..." Though it amazed me just a little that Junko didn''t understand me, I was sure she would, in time.


    "I''ve been looking at everything the wrong way. If even we, Altiri who never age, are still so capable of sudden and abrupt demise, then even we are subject to the same principles of our struggle against mortality, something that is always inevitable. Therefore, in concern for how I feel towards that other world, it shouldn''t be about what we stand to lose, gain, or fear. If we make contact with the human world, we will help them, and we will hurt them. We will likely hurt ourselves, but everyone involved will learn from this. In going through with the purge, Altiri and Humans can learn and experience new things together."


    "Does that mean, you''re suddenly all for the purge?"


    "Don''t get me wrong. I intend on purging nobody. I keep hearing horror stories and rumors about the price to be paid for enacting such a strong covenant, and unless every single one of us has a unison agreement to use one, I will never force any to take part in it. Where it concerns our continued clairvoyant surveillance on the other hand, I insist that we focus our efforts more than ever before, so that we can learn with greater density, just how deep Human souls really are."


    "So then, we''ll be watching the world more closely."


    "Only if you want. Even clairvoyant scanning is optional for all of us. I''ll never force or encourage anyone to do something they don''t need to do. As for me, I''m going to keep watching them, until I arrive at an answer which satisfies me. I''m also going to keep my eyes on the actions taken by the Royal Scryers. If they really think purging those people is a good idea, I''ll learn from their actions, rather than stand in their way and thwart our shared knowledge."


    "Not too long ago, you said the exact opposite if I recall."


    "The Human race is going to perish one day anyway, as are we for that matter. I say, if we''re all going to die together, we should try to learn together as well, even if there is no significant end goal."


    "You really are something Lumina. I''m sure our sisters have already heard all of that."


    From there, Rose let us both know that Junko''s suspicion was on point. "You two just worry about getting to the station. Remember to breathe slowly if your air gets thin."


    "Of course they heard all of what I said. I''m counting on it." Rose, Sherika, Derria, Fionne, Talor, Hurma, Ashiela, Luna, and Lulu; all of you are in charge of remembering what I''ve just learned, if I don''t make it out on the other side. Four months of memory loss might not be much to most people, but if I forget the sentiment in what I''ve now come to realize, I''ll never forgive myself.


    "We''re still about fifty-five minutes away," Junko reminded. "It''s going to be interesting once we arrive."


    "It''s nice, quiet, and cold in here." The sizzling chill of the air from our A/C vent was so soothing, so relaxing. I feel like I could shut my eyes and meditate here forever. Maybe the air is already getting low. Maybe I''m not going to make it beyond this moment. As long as I have my sisters, and my super-cooled air, I''ll always feel so serene and at home.


    "Okay then... You take a moment to relax, and I''ll fly the ship."


    Junko actually seems worried. After everything I just said, it would be a shame if I were to permanently perish before I could enact the symphonies in my heart. But, it wouldn''t be too bad. Better it is, for my soul to reawaken and shine before my end, than it would be for me to die asleep, mute and isolated from all the possibilities and wonders of our universe. So long as I am awake when I die, I won''t ever reflect back to regrets. My body may be a temporary vessel, but my consciousness, my truth, all in essence that I am, is invulnerable.

 Chapter 008: The Purge Experimental

    <hr>


    <06/16/147,078 {Avion 145} - 07:59 | Research Station N-41, Genosis, Altiri Sector Space>


    <Karnak to ACS414 Date Equivalent: 06/16/-478>


    One of the many questions preliminary to interstellar communication is the method by which communications may be established. There are different resolutions which may be suitable for communicating with a distant alien species, but virtually every method has its drawbacks. Radio communications, techno-signatures, and the artificial instigation of unusual cosmic process all have the potential to be used to communicate with, or perhaps locate intelligent alien life. However, the three methods I''ve just mentioned are not as ideal as many might think.


    Radio waves only travel at the speed of light, which is relatively slow when compared to the size of the entire universe. Even with potent telephonic lenses, the Earth and Karnak would never be able to spot each other, due to sheer distance and lack of light travel alone. There was a point in time where we Altiri didn''t monitor average cosmic noise, so radio signals also have chance to be missed.


    Then there is the idea behind techno-signatures; a state of a particular civilization where their presence in space is detectable by highly advanced electronic detection systems, combined with telescopes and spectrometry. Even a fleet such as ours won''t be easy to detect at a distance with all the background cosmic noise. However, it''s also likely that other civilizations have yet to reach the depths out outer space, making them even more undetectable due to being underdeveloped.


    Outer space is fairly hostile to all life, so any exotic or rare cosmic phenomena is even less likely to house suitable life. There lies within this principle the theory of the habitable zone. The habitable zone is mostly subjective in nature. It may not be applicable in exact specifications for every single species. When we first discovered Earth, we noticed that the various regions and zones on the planet ranged severely in temperature, compared to our home, which hangs around -340 Nixus. Consider us; Altiri of ancient times, beings that need and thrive in constant cold and plentiful hydration, and then consider the biological settings of human beings. Were humans to ever attempt colonization of our world, they would freeze to death in a mere instant. Were Altiri to ever attempt colonization of their world, our bodies would melt and crumble in a mere instant, putting aside our different atmospheric compositions.


    What works for one species won''t always work for the next. This increases the potential span of what can be considered habitable zone worlds, which makes the search for life all the longer. Other civilizations searching however, may yet come to realize this fact, if they have never discovered anything on their own, which negatively affects the chance of their communications should they dismiss the other possibilities.


    Even our own methods of communication are subject to errors and faults of a perfect design. Psionic energy is vastly superior to almost everything we have, and it can be used to establish telepathic links to those who are also psionic, (or ''Scions''). The obvious fault in this way of thinking, is that telepathic communication only works if both nodes have at least a minimum level of psionic activity and potential in their brain. Some creatures have some potential, but usually not enough to enable automatic telepathic potential between that species and another with the same or greater potential.


    This is the problem The Unity has been having when attempting to institute the first contact policy between our race, and the inhabitants of ACS414. We are telepathic Scions, where humans are not. Humans have psionic potential; we know this because, if they did not, then humans would be fully immune to our clairvoyant sensing. This also implies that humans are fully capable and adept to experiencing and handling powerful and intense emotions, something all Scions seem to need. In short, humans are close to having the minimum level of psionic power needed to experience telepathy naturally, with a negative factor compared to us by about 3.6.


    All this explanation is simple really, and it''s the very reason why we have arrived at the research station today. Even though the experiment has already begun with two confirmed successes, the purge process is still being considered experimental in every manner and regard.


    "I''m just saying; why is ''purge theory'' so important for people who aren''t ever going to institute a purge?" Hurma is in her usual mood.


    I quietly reminded her the reason why our visit here today was so important. "Even if we''re never going to send a purge signal ourselves, it''s still very important knowledge to keep in mind during our monitoring. Don''t forget it was this very same purge idea that made our communication with the humans possible, where it would not have been before."


    "As Lumina mentions, the queen makes this a new requirement for all aggressor groups to learn, not to encourage anybody to use a purge, rather to maintain minimal safety measures if one is ever used." She spoke so elegantly, the research director''s voice so soothing and easy on our ears.


    She isn''t wrong about this either. At first, even I wondered if this was another power play by the Royal Scryers to get us all into purging human individuals. Rumor is, they wanted to attempt such a thing, and the queen nearly had all their heads for it. It isn''t some strange reverse-psychology or some political trickery; everyone actually advises others not to invoke a purge on any human target at all, simply because the costs are high compared to the short-lived benefits. If Hurma will simply calm herself and remain patient, science director Saint will explain all of the process to us.


    "If you will, follow me to the observation room. There, I can answer any and all questions about the purge to anyone willing to listen."


    "Any questions?" Luna was only curious about how deep such a rabbit hole could go, though I''ve already learned much of this from hearing about it over time. Since my knowledgebase of this is considered unofficial, all of us must learn from Saint, so that we can be officially certified in containing knowledge of the purge, whether or not we choose to use it later.


    "Any question within what we currently know. There is still plenty more to learn from the experimental process, since we''ve never had a valid target test subject before, until most recently that is." With her short-winded and calm explanation out of the way, the rest of us Cy-Stars followed her into the observation room, alluring our eyes to some impressive designs of advanced machinery and holographic display, mapping a cluster of stars. We all gathered by this beautiful colored hologram, using it as a visual backdrop of elegant aesthetics, setting a perfect mood for the topic of such scientific ascension.


    <hr>


    Chapter Theme Shift: Peaceful Stars ~ Astropilot & Spacecraft [Lights in the Sky]</a>


    <hr>


    With everyone in place, Saint began her lecture from the beginning. "We refer to this specific category of science as, the Astral Purge, though most simply call it the purge. This is merely a subset to the field of psionics, science dedicated to discovering the details and exact process behind our extra-sensory abilities, including exactly how the Astral Plane is involved."


    "Is it possible to skip over the parts we already know?" Fionne, who has been pairing with Hurma for too long today, let out some of her frustrations verbally as well, though it already seemed like Saint ignored them.


    "Complaining about this lesson will not speed up the process, as I am required to deliver unto you all of the key elements of the purge, experimental."


    "May I ask something before we get started?" I had to step in front of Junko, ensuring my gaze and body were confirmed by the attention of this intelligent researcher. "The purge as it is now is considered an experimental process... I understand it has a long way to go before losing that extra nomenclature, but how long would you predict this to be? With two humans already tested and purged, how many more humans will be experimented on before we can claim enough is enough?"


    Saint didn''t answer me at first, though she held that innocent and blissful smile as if she was content with any interruption. "All in due time. It isn''t known how long the purge will cease becoming an experiment, or even if it will be widely adopted as our new communication tool. Even if every member of The Unity were to embrace the purge all at once, the absolute most amount of humans we could ever truly purge is 3,201,000 people, and then that''s only if every single Altiri contributed. Right now, as only members of the military are capable, this possible number of current matters falls to exactly one thousand humans. Given their sheer numbers in estimated population compared to ours, it isn''t much, and so forcing them to become aware of us is actually not the goal behind any purge."


    "Okay..." She didn''t really answer my question the way I wanted her to, but I get the feeling she will explain it all if I behave long enough for her to cover everything.


    "I shall first reiterate the exact definition of a purge. A purge is a potent psionic signal preprogrammed with thousands of mental instructions and subconscious processes, which ¨C when sent to another candidate, will receive this signal as it establishes its own artificial co-sentience to the host mind. It is in all aspects, a complex, adaptive signal, with psionic and neurological instructions carried over for a prolonged period of time. Once a being is purged, assuming they are at a level of psionic potential prone to ascension, this signal will passively reroute neurological processes and neuron traffic directly to the Cora sector of the brain, thereby forcing it to become more activated. The purge also contains tremendous amounts of alternate information which prepares the mind for other processes; in our case, an Altiri who sends a purge will do so with the final post-process set to forcibly establish and activate a telepathic link between a specific primary node, the sender, and the receiving node."


    I knew all of this from my previous study on psionics, but the way she was gushing out such strong diction made me second-guess whether I really knew everything about this supposed process. I wasn''t actually certain until now that this signal was a living signal.


    "Can any one of you tell me how many phases of the purge exist in process, and how they function?" Saint actually waited on all of us silent souls, establishing the president that she was the expert on the subject above us Cy-Stars.


    When nobody answered, Saint felt free to sound off without any interruption. "Right, as I thought." Saint then eased her body against the metal ramp behind her, sitting on the holographic panel to demand the full attention of us all. "The psionic purge has seven primary phases, and two core functions of its design. The first and second core function have mostly been explained to you already. However, you should note the importance of the learning process delivered by the purge. A target who receives a purge will also obtain lots of information from that signal, mostly, information which is placed into it by the sending node, both information about us Altiri, and personal information about the sender themself, among other elements."


    "The first phase of the purge is known as initialization, also known as activation. Phase one of the purge only lasts for a few days at the most, a phase which establishes a measure by which the intended target receives a fully functional purge. Actual effects on the mind and body are not too well known, and there are still prediction maps being made. What we know for sure is, this phase dramatically increases one''s global awareness of the world around them, and within themselves. Of course, the first few seconds or minutes should be jarring to the subject, intense as ever, like there''s a life-threatening feeling from out of nowhere."


    "What''s the second phase?" Rose asked.


    "Phase two of the purge implements a singular series of montrums to the subject. These montrums can vary on subject matter, but given our nature, it will most likely pertain to the sky or outer space. Any human who is purged will certainly feel a powerful belonging to the space beyond their world, a certainty that so much more is beyond their presence, and all without any idea as to why. These montrums will also be unique, in that their intensity by amplification will be excessively high, and therefore all controlling. Montrums can cycle on and off again, and often change in subject matter, but for the purpose of the purge, which practically forces this onto the receiver, the intensity of these montrums has the power to warp and override perception, at top strength."


    "Is there a reason it must be that strong?" Talor, only curious about this prospect wondered if this was as intentional as it sounded.


    "We are not certain. The purge as it is used is mostly unaltered from the formulas and processes that Herios left behind. We can only speculate, that these intense montrums are in fact a requirement for the rest of the purge to function, since it sharpens the mind and senses, preparing it for the massive influx of secondary information as it overflows from the process, and uses the brain''s own functions as a perpetual translator between psionic awakening and psionic data. Phases two through four are all thought to exist as a means of preparing the brain to inherit the raw information about our world, by setting the brain into a heightened learning state."


    "This brings us to phase three of the purge. Under phase three, the subject may undergo abrupt personality changes, thrown so strongly, it can be impossible to resist. These personality changes are specific to closely match the exact person of the sending node, and will include ethical and moral boundaries, average thoughts and emotions, and various mental traits. The personality adopted can sometimes match the sender during a different time of their life, so the reflection is never one to one. This might sound like a bad deal, as if the human purged has their entire mind altered beyond who they once were. Luckily, this kind of change is only temporary, effectively vanishing not long after the purge completes its final process."


    "Doesn''t it seem wrong to anyone that forcing somebody to accept whatever change is going on in their mind is an invasion too far, assuming we would want to have the best interest of the receiver node?" It was a fair question from Derria, and sure enough, Saint had an answer.


    "Harsh or not, this is again placed into the purge by none other than Herios. We examined every step carefully, and determined that every step was essential to the process. Some scryers have speculated that the reason behind the personality change is to force acceptance to the purge signal, so that its integration can be made easier over time. Others instead, speculate that without such forced acceptance or strong cohesion to the sensations felt by another Altiri, the difference between the individual psyche and the foreign sensations would increase the risk of that target developing a potent personality disorder, even with the effects temporary. To answer your question Derria, I cannot be certain if it is actually necessary, but most seem to think so. Nobody denies how invasive the process actually is. There is a price to purge another being, and also, there is a price to be purged as well."


    That''s crazy! How could any aggressor group, even if it''s just one or two ever purge another being if this is the cost? I already heard about far worse things happening to those who try to send purges; I just know it gets worse... It''s still too hard for me to imagine what it would be like though. If all of my thoughts and feelings were suddenly not my own, dramatically shifted and controlled by the fragments of another person so far away...


    "Next, we have phase four of the purge, also known as the ability phase. After the purge takes root in a person for long enough, some higher-level psionic functions may begin to start or fire off on their own. We''ve currently concluded that a human''s ability for new psionic powers to awaken during this phase, such as clair-sensing, dynamic dreaming, and perceptual manipulation, have yet to be determined at this time. We predict that it may happen during this phase, though every single human has a slightly different psionic aptitude, so while it may happen to some, it won''t happen to others, if our theory is correct in the first place."


    "Perceptual manipulation?" Ashiela wasn''t alone thinking that aloud; I''ve yet to hear this phrase too.


    "Perceptual manipulation is the strongest variant of a controlled hallucination, instigated by this phase in the purge, where one''s basic senses become overridden by data overflow from the purge instead of data from the node''s own body. Herios predicted this was a strong possibility, though we have yet to see it demonstrated or reported."


    "Didn''t you only purge two people? What much is there to report with a tiny sample size?"


    "Sherika!" I don''t care if she disagrees; that was rude. Having a larger sample size would be worse for the hidden gems on that planet, not better.


    "Your presumption is well founded, Sherika. You see, in both cases of our first two purges, the receiver nodes were not able to cleanly learn and assimilate our language. Subject number one managed to put in some effort and speak some of our dialect, though not much strangeness about the purge was ever reported to her aggressor group by her. Subject number two didn''t learn the language at all, and so in both instances, there was a language barrier blocking a transfer of knowledge, as there will be in the next purge."


    "The next purge?" I stammered fiercely. "So I was right. These purges are being planned out in advance by the queen."


    "You are only half right."


    "Am I? I know her more than you think I do. Everybody is so curious about this purge especially after it''s worked twice, but must the experiment continue for the namesake of experimentation?"


    "Do you think aggressor groups candidates one and two decided on their purge targets out of mere curiosity and the betterment of science?"


    I thought so... But since she''s asking an obviously rhetorical question, I must have missed something.


    "I said it before, and I''ll say it again. None of these purges are motivated by anything other than personal choice and attachment to each target. The Royal Scryers want their empirical data; even I am no exception to this desire. However, all know with certainty that it is wrong to so much as motivate a single Altiri into taking on the immense responsibility of a purge, when not motivated by better reason. You see, the purge is an experimental project for us, but a most personal project to them... They made the choice. They accepted their tribute. They had to meet grueling requirements, both physical and administrative, and both aggressor groups, knowing with full disclosure all of the risks, chose to purge their targets anyway."


    This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    "Are humans really that interesting and worth talking to?" Fionne meant to sound as judgmental as she could, having seen humanity''s worst sides already.


    I on the other hand kept silent, thinking back to that time I shadowed a beautiful soul. She didn''t live very long, but I could tell she was intelligent and yearned for knowledge. Seeing that in her made me want to impart my wisdom onto her. It wasn''t nearly enough for me to even consider a purge, but I at least understand why one aggressor group might want to.


    Ignoring Fionne''s comment, Saint simply continued from where she left off. "The queen plans out the process of each purge, trying to favorite a particular zone or add a specific amount of extra data in the next purge packet. However, all of this falls within the jurisdiction of the aggressor group requesting permission to purge."


    "Getting back to the ability phase of the purge," Saint continued, "there is also the uncertain yet possible chance of other abilities to trigger, namely clairvoyance. Even if such abilities do not trigger from the purge, the ability phase is such that the concentration to the Cora sector of the brain is most active and intense, and so, psionic aptitude will increase sharply, regardless of alternate ability development progress. One could speculate that manually learning another psionic power after the purge has completed can be made far easier as a result of phase four."


    "So then next we have phase five." Let''s hear it Saint. Leave nothing out.


    "While phase five coincides with phases two through four, it may cycle on as the others cycle off. Known to us as the information phase, phase five of the purge increases the concentration and rate at which information is transferred from the elements of the purge to the subject''s brain. In phase five, the target learns a lot more, if not everything at once about our world, our people, our feelings, our history; everything! This is thought to save us time on explaining who or what we are to the individual after the purge completes, and hopes to reduce a bit of the shock factor as this goal is achieved. However, we''ve also learned that this information is additionally a strong co-requirement of the entire purge process itself."


    On cue, Lulu asked, "What does that mean?"


    "This one is just as hard to explain as it is to understand, more so because we don''t understand why. Hypothetically, if the purge were to miss step five, giving the subject no knowledge of our world prior to its completion, we believe there is a reduced, not impossible chance that the purge will succeed. If instead, by some hypothetical miracle that a person already armed with enough knowledge about us, is then purged by an aggressor group, then there is a very strong probability that the purge will fail at around this state."


    "What?" Why? Why would having knowledge about the Altiri be detrimental to a purge process?


    "Before you ask me why, I don''t yet have an answer to this, not even a good speculation. It has stumped many of the other scryers as well. Mind you, Herios points out that prior knowledge of the same data overflow from the purge does not guarantee that its purge will fail; it only increases the chance that the purge at this stage will malfunction enough for critical failure. We believe that her theory on the matter points back to phase two of the purge, the montrum phase. If someone already were to know everything about us and then be purged, then the chances of establishing a valid montrum linked to anything of or about us will go down, and if this happens, without powerful montrums, other preliminary phases of the purge will also lose effectiveness. The purge, for a lack of better term, loses all of its momentum, as if running out of fuel. Of course, we have also determined that, if a purge is ever going to fail for any unknown or unusual reason, aside from what I''ve already mentioned, it is also most likely to occur at the information phase of the purge."


    "That''s a lot to take in."


    "Yes, and it has some strongly named implications as well. You see, we can put aside all hypothetical examples of this nature for now, because we do not expect any humans purged to spread our word around in any believable manner, so such an example should never come to light anyway. What it does present us with however, is an opportunity for a perfectly valid purge to fail; I promise you some purges will fail if we keep the experiment going. If the purges all start off fine but then fail at phase level five, then this means, even with a failed purge, the subject will attain majority of knowledge about our world and our race, albeit without the necessary presence of evidence to bring themselves to believe it. Socially, this may have unforeseen implications on our knowledge being distributed around on that faraway planet. I surmise this is the reason why the queen wishes to keep all involved aggressor groups and receiver nodes a secret, even from higher ranking people like myself."


    That''s right. Saint might be a research director, but she isn''t technically a Royal Scryer. In her field of study, people simply refer to her as a scryer, a high ranking scryer even, but never a Royal Scryer sworn to absurd secrecy.


    "It may also have to do with how the purge cycle functions. You see, phase one only lasts for a day or a few days, and phase seven lasts for but a brief fleeting moment. However, phase two, three, four, and five all cycle on and off in non-linear sequences, often with more than one cycle being on at the same time, repetitively until all information and neurological brain rerouting is complete. Therefore, the effects that the purge has on an individual mind are always unpredictable. One may experience personality changes, only for that phase to suddenly calm down and switch over to montrums, knowledge infusing, and ability development congruently. The overall process past phase one is not so orderly. The idea behind this little fact, is that phase five of the purge, in the way knowledge is implemented to the brain that it had not before, may be crucial in how these other cycles trade between each other. Until we know more, we cannot be certain."


    Going through a purge sounds just as crazy as sending one to another person. Maybe I was wrong to worry about it.


    "These phases cycle between different states wildly, until we reach stage seven. There is however an unmentioned sixth stage, a different classification of ability activation, which is only exclusive to the purge process itself. It doesn''t happen often at all, and if ever it does, only after the purge is about halfway completed with its full process. Phase six of the purge, or alternate ability phase, usually focuses on more dramatic alterations in immediate perception, caused by many phases of the purge being active simultaneously. Along with this may come with a phenomena of potent memory sharing. In such an event, the human would abruptly inherit some or all of the more recent direct memories of the primary node who purged them."


    "You mean, they can remember what we remember? This is more powerful than I thought."


    "Yes, well, this is still a speculative phenomena, and for whatever the reason, Herios points out that such a process if ever concurrent - has a very low probability of occurring at all. I personally think it would only be possible if the target were an exceptionally strong potential Scion."


    "Then the final phase closes everything off."


    "Correct Talor. In the seventh and final phase of the purge, after all possible knowledge within the purge has been transferred out, and after the Cora sector of the brain has been stimulated enough, then this final seventh phase activates, after the target has already ascended to a point where limited telepathy can apply. In the final phase of the purge, the target is undeniably compelled to focus all of their thoughts, attention, and emotions onto the primary node, of which they will have information about by that time. At the same time this happens, the purge will instigate full-scale psionic projection all on background threads of the mind, after having been accelerated for the day. As soon as this happens, the very same Altiri person who purged this individual will suddenly feel this strong connection and sense calling out to them. They merely concentrate back on the same projection, establishing and stabilizing the first telepathic link between the two. After this stage, the purge signal will have completed its task, and end its own existence, never to return."


    "That''s amazing," I murmured. "Just like that, and the two can communicate with each other from that moment on?"


    "That''s the idea anyway. You see, the same human individual learns telepathy in a manner which they were not exactly designed to learn it. We Altiri are used to this telepathic sense; it is as natural to us as breathing, but before it was, we had to put in some concentrated effort, initially. The purge bypasses this step for humans, which means, handling a telepathic link in the background of their mind with minimal concentration on their end is easy, but establishing a new link after the first one - is next to impossible without effort. Once the purge completes, the future of such two will depend entirely on a variety of factors."


    "It can still go wrong? I though the purge is something we Altiri can only ever send once in our entire lifetimes, gone when we use it, even if resurrected."


    "This is true. The reason it is a one-time use ability has to do more with permanent psionic strain than anything else, something those machines cannot fix. Beyond the risks we never even touched on yet, you can see why many would not be so motivated to send a purge in the first place. Within that first day of telepathic connection, if the Altiri node responsible does not teach their subject how to manually invoke another instance of private telepathy between each other, then it will be their final day together. No Altiri can start and stabilize a connection with another human on their own, even to one who has already been purged. The reason for this is a prevalent difference in psionic aptitude in that human. Even after a purge, no human can detect the projection waves of us through one-sided telepathy, though we can detect it from them, because we are the stronger nodes."


    "I see."


    "In addition to the requirement, there must also be consent and psychological acceptance after the fact as well. Some humans may turn out to be unhappy learning that the oddities they go through in a purge was something outside of their control. They have the ability to abstain from establishing communications for the second time, simply by waiting out the timer for a disconnection, which can lead right back into the first problem, of having no knowledge of manually instituting a fresh connection after the first one fails. Most of the time, the lingered effects from the purge, mainly increasing their acceptance to all aspects about us are enough to curb the fear of aliens aside long enough to master telepathic projection and make a more informed decision later, but this is not always the case. Some effects from the purge linger after the signal dies, for random periods of time; though it is not actually a live signal of a purge, only a kind of nerve memory or established habit which would prolong these effects. Therefore, the possibility of voluntary rejection persists in any case."


    "Even if we go through all the trouble to purge them, that same human has full say on whether they chose to agree to long-term communication with us or not... A fitting resolution to your concerns, Lumina." Sherika paused and turned to me while making that announcement, throwing the truth right in my own face.


    "Yeah, I get it." I had initial concerns about the morality of interfering with the life of other humans if it somehow puts them in discomfort. The truth is, with a purge, we both pay the price, and yet the human gets to decide on their own whether they want to talk to us in the end, while any Altiri who purges can never undo their decision and get their power back. Once someone sends a purge, that''s it; they can never send another one again, an effect which is shared even among those who are simply helping with the same purge through amplification. It shoots far beyond any risk I am willing to take. That''s just too much to lose for too little to gain.


    <hr>


    Chapter Theme Shift: Cloudwalker ~ RA</a>


    <hr>


    "All of this information regarding the purge is only in how it works once it is sent. It has little impact on exactly how a purge signal is generated in the first place. I shall go over this with you later in the cycle. First, you should all become aware of the physiological risks you would take on by sending or assisting a sender of a purge."


    "We already know." Hurma, who was calmed by the excessive knowledge she was not expecting was still eager to skip over anything she felt was a waste of time, as was I.


    "We''ve heard all about the horror stories and rumors of what sending a purge does to an Altiri. I''m sure some of those rumors are fake, like the idea of losing an arm. If I have this right, the biggest threat is rapid energy loss."


    "Lumina," Saint pointed while expanding on my summary. "Do you remember how you felt, that one time in a recent incident where you needed to use your acquired ice beam ability to seal off an entire opening?"


    "I wouldn''t consider that recent, but I do recall very well." It was the day we had a problem with the A/C system, the most vital component to our ships with the reactor running. We can''t properly vent any excessive heat from the other subsystems into space if the A/C system is malfunctioning. Top scryers have thankfully improved on that design since then.


    "You and Junko had to work together, but in the instance you had to expel most of the water from your body like that, it took quite a toll on you both."


    "We had to replenish our energy with lots of water, carefully too."


    "That type of drain that you experienced was mostly physical, biological energy loss. Sending a purge institutes a high cost in physical and mental energy, and is equivalent to about twenty times the drain you felt that day, with assistance."


    Failing to shake the thought from her mind, Junko asked what none of us wanted to. "I don''t want to even ask, but what would happen to an Altiri who tries to send a purge solo?"


    "Lots of things happen really. It goes without saying that the purge signal would fail to meet requirements potent enough to reach the target. That though is the least of worries. Any Altiri who dares send a purge, complete or not, will put total strain on their body and their brain. The biological energy drain and rapid dehydration will force the person to pass out on the spot, putting them in severe and instant critical condition. As for the psionic strain of trying to handle that alone, well..." Saint didn''t speak for a moment, and the pain on her face was obvious enough why she refused to continue.


    She might deny it, but most of us know already. Aldriah, the alleged victim of this purge experiment, proved just how dangerous and deadly this process can be. She would have been part of experiment number three, but the whole moment was seen as a colossal failure, on herself and on the administration for failing to prevent it.


    "You know the story already, I''m sure of it. There are many reasons why getting permission to send a purge from the queen is an ultimate requirement. Besides simply going through the trouble to mask which aggressor group is sending a purge at a planned date and time, we also have protocols in place, because even Herios understood these physiological risks before the rest of us could. It doesn''t matter if you are a human, Altiri, or anything else. The brain needs the Cora function to live and experience enough sentience to be considered living. It is our psionic core, but also a core part of our neural network which attaches to the brainstem. Without a functioning Cora sector, there is no living. The one Altiri person who tried to send a purge on her own, effectively fried this segment of herself, scarring her Cora beyond usability. The only good news that came of it was that her death was instant instead of painful, though I hardly consider any of that to be good news."


    "I''m sorry for asking." I had to figure that Junko really didn''t know about it until now, since most of us never talked about it in the open. Before I could think more about it, Saint continued to expand on this, since the principle was part of the lesson.


    "You see, with a purge, the required energy to send one is so great, that other people who have the same power and understanding of its power must simultaneously share the psionic load together. The absolute minimum requirement of people has been recalculated after what happened to Aldriah. The minimum requirement to send a purge is six Altiri people. If six Altiri people collect their energy and concentration together, they can pull it off, but it will be tougher having less people. The recommended amount is ten; no more, no less."


    It''s crazy that this purge has such harsh rules out of nowhere. I knew already why there was a specific number of recommended to the amount of people who can purge. I once thought, if more people are better off and suffer less when collectivity purging one person, why not get hundreds of people together for one purge? Saint knows this reason too of course.


    "The further below ten you go, the stronger the side-effects will be just after sending the purge. It''s actually normal for a group of ten to take many days of rest and recovery due to the load of the process. For a minimum group of six, it''s possible for one or more person to fall into a coma. Anything less than six, and all five or less involved in the process will die. We don''t recommend more than ten take part in a purge, because then it means even more Altiri will permanently lose their chance to purge at a time. Even if you had a hundred Altiri trying to share one purge, while it would be easy, we still can''t be certain that it won''t wipe our abilities in the process."


    There it is. Even if a hundred or more purge one person, the permanent ability loss is still a good possibility. I can''t imagine how the helpers of a purge must feel, losing their freedom to make a pact with an alien for all of eternity, all just to assist their leader in making one. That much jealousy on a grand scale isn''t something I want to see in my lifetime.


    "And it always wipes our abilities every single time; the same two abilities?"


    "Correct Ashiela. Both the ability to reinstitute a purge, and the ability of long-range clairvoyance become removed from the body. This means, the moment a purge is launched, the very same aggressor group who sent it has no ability to visually track their target or monitor their progress. Even after the purge is done, that same aggressor group can never watch ACS414 or any other distant world ever again. We do retain our clairvoyance where it applies to our own solar system, though we think this has more to do with every last one of us being highly adept Scions already, thereby increasing the amount of echo-return data within our Dynamic Thought Field in our abilities. We become mostly blind, but not entirely blind in our third eyes."


    "That''s pretty harsh. And here I was wondering if this purge thing was about to catch on real soon." If Fionne is saying it, I know it''s bad.


    "Further ability loss can take place too, if you stay too close to the minimum level of required people to send and assist in a purge. We did our own estimations, and determined that even our own telepathy is not immune to this ability loss, though this would only happen right on the edge of making it out or failing to survive a purge; yet another reason why you don''t ever want to take part in a purge without the proper amount of Altiri to share the balance of the psionic load."


    Here''s something I want to know. "Tell me something. If we lose track of our target after sending a purge due to loss of clairvoyance, how do the Royal Scryers know what effects these individuals go through, if we never tell them?"


    "You can make that guess with half a brain cell Lumina. It makes perfect sense why the queen needs to know in advance, but I promise you that she shares the same data with the Royal Scryers as well. Even I am a little bothered by this, but there are talks in the temple already of altering this policy, eventually. I think the queen is having all important eyes everywhere right now, simply because this experiment is too new, and potentially dangerous. One day, even the Royal Scryers won''t have the right to know such confidential information about purge targets."


    "So you say." I don''t believe it''s anything more than a simple suggestion meant to quell anyone who has a problem with it, not that I care. I''m not sending a purge to anybody, so it isn''t exactly my problem in the first place.


    "Saint?"


    "You should all speak amongst yourselves for a moment. I require more hydration." Saint needed more than a sip of water, but none of us called her out on it. As she went away from us for a brief break, my sisters and I discussed what was already confirmed.


    "What do you think about this Lumina?"


    "Me?!" Sherika''s really asking? "I''m not getting involved in a purge. I thought all of you understood that already."


    "Heh! Can''t say why, but I''m glad you said that." I knew Hurma would be happiest with it all. Even she takes part in the clairvoyance with us, but still not as much. Even after all this time, she tends to focus more frequently on the fact that ACS414 is inhabited by disgusting filthy heathens.


    Folding her arms in mild disappointment, Sherika forced herself to reiterate her point. "I was referring to the idea of it all; the fact that this purge experiment seems to be ongoing, if terribly slow in progress since nobody wants to foot the bill for it. I can promise you another aggressor group will go for purge number three eventually, and then it will only become more popular from there. I personally don''t have much of an opinion on it myself, but I know that you do."


    If she doesn''t care, why does it matter what I think about it to her? "You heard what Saint said. The costs of a purge are sky high, for the Altiri and the human both, but much more for the Altiri aggressor group who gets involved. I mean, what''s all of this worth when the human selected will die a dozen years or so later? They don''t live very long in case you haven''t noticed."


    "They may not live very long, but they can still be transperated, maybe."


    Denying the absurdity of the idea first was Fionne. "Ah, don''t get started on that again Ashiela. The top officials say transperation of humans directly into our world is possible, but they haven''t made it happen yet, and they''re not going to get it right the next time either."


    "You''re all missing the point!" I had to shout a little, since I could feel Ashiela and Fionne about to fight yet again over this stupid argument. Sherika and Rose need to understand this as well, even though I didn''t get it for the longest time. "It doesn''t matter if a third aggressor group sends a purge, or a fourth, or fifty more of them. I decided long ago that the human world, interesting as they are, are far beyond saving, and for that matter, long away from being worth a purge. For that matter, I no longer care if they become aware of our presence, through several purges or through other means. If other Altiri want to waste their energy on humans that badly, I say we let them."


    "That sounds most unlike you, Lumina."


    "I have not changed Junko. You know as well as I do, after our talk with Radion the other day, how most of the Altiri feel about that human world. Most were not surprised or thrilled to hear news that an experimental means of communication was slowly being authorized. I don''t have to speak for anybody, because these purges are not something anybody feels they have to invoke. If others want to put that much faith in humanity and discover the consequences the hard way, then let them. Even the queen ignored our warning so long ago, about the issues of being involved in a world filled with millions of copies of our greatest enemy. I do respect the amount of caution my great queen has put towards this entire prospect, but it doesn''t mean I''m going to be okay with the idea that a select few level of humans are being purged. Hell, we can''t even understand a word they''re saying most of the time."


    "Now that''s my sister," Hurma blurted in calm agreement. "I feel the same way too. Why mess ourselves up when we can slowly watch the idiots destroy their own world through ignorance and war?"


    It isn''t quite what I meant, but I won''t correct Hurma. She hasn''t exactly felt anything great from the humans. I can tell there are very rare exceptions among their race, but overall, I''m not impressed either.


    "It''s good that you all have your own stance on this." After returning with a new icy bottle of water, Saint made it clear she overheard most of us a moment ago. "It''s a strange way to feel, because the queen is very much heading up this purge experiment. The thing is, the queen also wants every single Altiri individual to have absolute say in what they will do with their choice of purge, no matter the reason, and to no be coerced into sending one simply because somebody else has. It is only an experiment for the brave, the volunteered, and the willing. The only other purpose here is our attainment of knowledge."


    "Does that mean we really have to stand around learning something we aren''t going to invoke anyway?"


    "Tell you what." Saint held her hips ready to compromise. "You learned all of the minimum requirements anyway. I won''t make you learn about the process this time, though you will have to relearn all of this if you one-day decide to change your mind. However, the only way I let this slide is if you hang out with me for a while."


    "You should have just asked if you were lonely. We''re more than willing to spend time on the station."


    After I agreed, Derria chimed in as well for another good reason. "Yeah, being on those ships all the time has me stiff. It''s far more cramped up in there than it is here."


    "I am grateful for this. I must say it''s also a relief."


    "Hm?"


    Saint clarified what she meant, leaving us all with something else to think about. "I''m talking about the eleven of you. I don''t know how to put it exactly, but it''s like all of you are alert and alive. Half the aggressor groups I talk to about this lately are going around like zombies; it''s almost scary. Of course, after I explained all of this to the others, they seemed livelier as well."


    "No need to worry about that." I was worried though. Hearing her say that reminded me how I was many Avions ago, when I thought I had broken forever, falling into a sleep I never wanted to wake up from. It almost happened to me again, before the purge was announced to have been authorized. We keep grazing the edge of such strong change, and are - as a species, now involved in human affairs, all because we couldn''t let go of our stubborn curiosity. Is it really change that keeps people like us awake and alert? Is it conflict? Maybe it''s something else. I don''t really know if Saint understands how I feel about this, but I know with certainty that I won''t ever make the wrong choice; never again.

 Chapter 009: Hidden Gems of People

    <hr>


    <11/30/149,558 {Avion 148} - 14:22 | Corral Position, Genosis, Altiri Sector Space>


    <Karnak to ACS414 Date Equivalent: 11/30/2002>


    It goes without saying; with time comes change. I used to believe otherwise, when The Unity stagnated in a cycle of mourning and recovery for tens of thousands of years, my soul along with them. I''d thought such change would still progress slowly and gradually, even among the human empires we continued to watch; how wrong I was!


    So far, there have been 14 total purges in our shared history between the Altiri and the Humans, a number that is soon to rise even higher, while our collective observation of ACS414 becomes even more popular. Though it was learned much later from filtered data given by the Royal Scryers, it turns out that these collection of purges had a few dramatic effects on the sociology of humankind...


    As if most of us are really surprised. The human race doesn''t need to collectively become aware of our presence in order to be influenced by The Unity. Things have become more interesting over time however, because one of the biggest changes to come from the purge experiment was the adoption of our own language as a popular form of verbal communication. Humans now call this language English, and believe it somehow originated from within their own history. Even though the shared language ratio is not one-to-one in all forms of English, this has given us amazing insight into how they behave, think, learn, and evolve over time.


    We now understand them. We now hear their voice, feel their heart, and see their world anew, at least among the targets we track who prefer to speak this language, our language.


    None of us have tried to learn any alternate variant of human language, nor do we plan to. Because of this change among a few others, purging human females has become more popular of an idea than it used to be. However, our aggressor group, the Cy-Stars, under my leadership, vowed to never invoke a purge on any other person for any reason. Instead, we stick to the stars, displaying the countless lives of those most interesting to our clairvoyant eyes and our clairaudient ears.


    Human technology has also been evolving at a quicker, more accelerated rate, with assurance it has nothing to do with our purging. Although, their interest in the stars above may have been influenced partially by our own influence, gradual and minuet as it may have been. Already have they launched into space, using what primitive tools and fuel they could. They still have a long way to go before reaching our technological equivalents, though a few specific scientific fields of study have advanced beyond even our own, such as cellular biology - and to some degree, mineralogy, though we still excel in physics.


    I normally would not even mention our advancement in psionics over them, but the Purge of 1903 seems to have shared some of our scryer information on psionics and the Astral Plane. As a result, many humans have been interested in the ideas of ESP abilities and psychic powers, though their actual sciences on the matter have not progressed far enough for strong accreditation, sadly. I would have personally been wishing for humanity to evolve to a point where psionic powers could be understood by them, let alone proven to exist in the first place, though many false pretenders of such abilities have also cropped up, tarnishing the reputation of psychic powers to a point where no serious scientific team on the subject would receive serious attention or funding, even by a big governmental department. I still wonder if they deserve to know, the billions of humans who are unaware of those we purge, unaware of the rare humans amongst them who telepathically speak with us. The queen goes through strict measures to ensure this never happens, but I have to wonder what would change if word did somehow get out, in a manner most plausible at least.


    "We''re all ready for this Lumina. Where will our next targets be?" Luna was asking me, while every one of my sisters passively waited and listened, wondering where my next area of focus would take us.


    It was actually unusual, at least a while ago, for my own sisters to want permission from me to track any human target. These days, we seem to switch away to and from many humans more frequently, looking for any interesting story. Our desire has the same basic principle found in those who seek out new and more exciting TV shows, after being addicted to or spoiled by the previous shows, wanting something more the next time, or something deeper than average.


    Interesting things happen in ACS414, often on individual levels. Other times, the stories we watch become horrible and vile, as people get what they don''t deserve while the criminals get away with whatever they want, karma to strike only when it feels like doing so. I hope to avoid the extreme violence and gore we''ve caught onto many times before, so we try to focus on cold zones within the northern continent of the United States of America, where most English is spoken as well.


    "I''m not sure yet." Honestly, I''m kind of board of this already. Humans have too much of a habit of casting aside who they really are inside, to better fit a social narrative around them. It sickens me that people do this at all, and it also bores me to death. Their lives are watched by us like a reality TV show, but they are not in a television script. These are real people, living creatures full of powerful and raw emotion, as well as sound logic, at least half the time. Instead, there seems to be a growing fraction of the populous behaving more like NPCs than people, sleep walking through their lives, blissfully unaware of how the world around them works. I tire of watching puppets when I seek to watch for those most awake; hard are they to find. "We already have a fairly strong understanding of how people generally behave in most of the northern and cold areas of this country. The moment used to be more interesting before the industrialized push threw everyone where they are now... I feel like they are beginning to stagnate a little."


    "I''ll take that to mean no special projects for now." Talor didn''t sound biased in her assumption. Normally, we would just pick interesting human targets at random. Lately however, I''ve been coming up with unique ideas, even little contests about certain human behavior, instituting unofficial special projects just to see if people are one way or another. One example of this was a time when we all spied on six tightly knit male humans, all of whom were totally rich, just to determine if it were ever possible for one of them to break free of their spoiled mental prison they created for themselves. Of course, heathens are always selfish no matter what, enough of us wondered if any would change given a bit of negative cohesion between themselves, since they too can be competitive. In the end, nobody changed, and the special project ended shortly. We were doing things like this more often, as if to conduct little social experiments involving no interference of our own, to correctly guess how another human would behave. We can see through their eyes and hear through their peripherals, but no Altiri can read the minds of them, unless done through a psionic purge, a sacred pact which I and my sisters have not.


    "You''re free to engage in the special projects I take interest in if you desire; do not feel obligation to follow my lead on this." Even as I said that, I knew the reason why everyone was looking to me for permission. They weren''t interesting as much in letting me take authority on our remote viewing, no. They were hoping I could make all of this more interesting for them. My sisters and many Altiri alike have also grown tired of the recent low-key zombification of modern human society. All of us want something more interesting, something deep and meaningful to reflect from others. It''s something we all know how to look for, but something that becomes rarer to find. Perhaps this is merely a symptom that we have allocated too much of our time dedicated and focused on the human world, rather than other affairs, like trying to further our fields of science, even though they have all ran into brick-walls amidst the resource shortage.


    Even if we are too bored of our surroundings to focus anywhere outside the ACS system, I wasn''t about to give up too quickly. So, I made a brief announcement and decision among my sisters. "On that note, I have actually come up with an idea for a prolonged study. It should hold our interest for a few more years, ten years if we are lucky."


    "A plan brought up on the spot?" Junko asked while standing beside me. "Do indulge us with the details."


    It isn''t exactly a crazy idea. I already know the expected outcome and results, but for the moment, this was the only idea I could muster, before deciding I would have to give clairvoyance a break. "We already know and understand the general behaviors of many sub-societies in most places of the world, especially within the United States, and we''ve even subdivided them by location and region." Some places of the world are colder and warmer than others, which means we prefer to always watch those in the coldest climate areas, so that our engagement to another person''s visual life is never cut off for too long. "What we have not tried yet, is comparing the average personal behavior of all we''ve observed, to those in the southern continents, closer to farmland and other temperate climates, and in the warmer areas."


    Before anyone could think more on the idea, Hurma sounded off on complexity of executing the plan. "Yeah, that''s because it''s warmer in those places. We avoid the southern states of America because their summers drag out longer, making it impossible to learn much about anybody there."


    "Yes Hurma. I know." It''s always fun when they don''t exactly catch the point I''m aiming for. "We know that their climate makes our snooping harder to carry out in a prolonged and proper study. That said, it still is not impossible. I for one would like to know if some of the humans in the slightly warmer climates have any radically different behaviors and personalities, compared to those who come from the North. I know that it isn''t likely for us to find that there is such difference, but I think a place we can rarely ever see only in winter months allures a certain curiosity from most of us."


    "So that''s what this is about," Sherika understood. "I must say Lumina; there is truth to your ideal. While I don''t believe there to be much of a difference either, the heart of the matter is, none of us really knows, because none of us really tries."


    Derria chimed in as well to deliver her shared opinion. "Now that you mention it, I think a high majority of the other aggressor groups treat those areas the same way too. Most of us don''t even bother with warmer climate areas that are possible to see into, putting classified military secrets aside. If we did conduct such a study, the Cy-Stars would only be one of very few aggressor groups to take on such a challenge. However, I must ask what in exact terms we would be looking for..."


    "Outliers!" I didn''t mean to give my answer so much psionic volume, but I felt so certain about what we need to look for. "We will scour the South, and search for any humans who behave different than what is deemed normal in their world. I want to find people that are unique. I want to watch people who are intelligent, or insightful, perhaps a little crazy, if only for their benefit."


    As usual, Ashiela made no hesitation in pointing out what we already know. "Do you understand how difficult that would really be? Some of those zones become dead-zones to clairvoyants for a majority of months out of every year due to the heat and humidity, with some states and providences cold only for two months out of the entire year, some even worse. With such small windows for us to collect our data, I don''t really envision us successfully understanding any particular person of interest, at least to a degree where a conclusion can be made."


    "Well Ashiela, do you happen to have any better ideas?" I had to throw the question right back at her. I''m only doing all of this because I want to find and study more unique people; it has nothing to do with any kind of contest or argument. If she can think of something far more interesting than this little experiment, I''m all ears.


    This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    "... I don''t."


    "This is why I get frustrated when everyone assumes I hold all the cards in the deck for choosing which human everyone wants to shadow. If anyone doesn''t care for this project, then by all means seeks out another activity for yourself, or present something better to me. All of you know the drill. We seek out and closely watch the hidden gems of people, to follow the lives of those most influential on the world around them, for their arts and talents, or for their words of wisdom."


    "There''s no need to be frustrated Lumina." Junko held my shoulder when she told me that, happy for whatever I have been saying. "I for one am interested in the idea itself. I see it more as a worthy challenge of us all, to find hidden gems of people in a world more often invisible to us, due to the weather nature there. If Ashiela and Hurma want no part of this, they are free to divert their focus elsewhere."


    "Fine, I''ll do it. No need to make me sound like bad person." Ashiela had a tone of rudeness in her voice even now, though all of us have forever been used to her moods.


    "That''s the spirit." I knew they would come along eventually. Who could resist the curiosity in my idea? Even though it will take longer this way, I can''t help but wonder if we will see such different behaviors on mass scales after all, between people who dwell in the south, versus those who dwell in the heat. The last time we gave such similar focus to this was during America''s Civil War, and so much has changed since then.


    Fionne then added one more point to the difficultly before anyone us were officially decided. "Okay, but how do we even know where to begin looking? The type of outlier you just described isn''t going to be so easy to find in the first place."


    For once, it was a good question, though I still knew how to answer us. "Fionne? Do you remember how to invoke your ability of psionic scanning? I have not forgotten, though it still takes a while when we have to combine it with our clairvoyance."


    "Of course I remember. I''m in the Cy-Stars Lumina, ranked number one for the past twelve-hundred years." She wasn''t exaggerating the clout. Our aggressor group ranking dropped into first place, ever since we became more serious about everything following our latest refresh lesson about the purge, though it required many improved aspects of us as well, such as mental stability, military combat training assessments, piloting protocol and decision speed, and our own cultural elegance in front of our great queen in all of our past meetings. We''ve now become the number one example aggressor group others should aspire to be, and are thus well known in the military because of it.


    "Keep in mind that using the ability of psionic scanning on persons of interest, we can narrow down our unique targets to a degree. Psionic theory 197: Any sentient being who reaches or exceeds average minimum levels of psionic aptitude capable for receiving a purge, is also more likely to retain a higher level of intelligence than those without this potential. With intelligence comes insight, and with insight comes those who won''t conform to social norms around them. It isn''t a perfect measure, but it''s all we got."


    The psionic science has evolved in our world as well, from all of the purges that have been conducted, and from all of the consolidated data the Royal Scryers continue to collect on it. It turns out, roughly half the entire female population of Earth are not eligible for a purge, based on a predetermined value of current psionic aptitude within that person. If it falls below a minimum level, which if often does, then the human scanned would not be purged if ever an aggressor group attempted to, making the purge prospect even more difficult. The same principle applies as well for any other psionic types of abilities. Some humans are more adept to the ability than others, and for whatever the reason, there is a good correlation between those who have higher psionic aptitudes, and the trait of having a higher level of intelligence than the average level. Recent evidence even suggests that these kinds of traits are more genetically based in determination. Fascinating!


    "I feel like this plan was thrown together half-heartedly," Rose warned. "However, I can feel your stronger desire to make it happen regardless Lumina. You seem to have an optimistic attitude about this idea, so I will join in as well."


    I wasn''t aware my emotions were showing so strongly to Rose or the others, but it changes nothing. "Listen up everyone. I will begin scanning the South section of the United States, starting today. The current time of this year should already have several of these states in their relative winter solstice moments, so it should be easy going for now. Anyone who wishes to follow me may do so, but we shall intervene every few days or so, to ensure we don''t accidentally overlap the same targets of interest. It isn''t resourceful if we scan the same areas without realizing it. If there is no opposition to my plan, I will institute in a few hours, once I decide on a starting point."


    <hr>


    Chapter Theme Shift: La Selva Llora Por Ti ~ Ashnaia Project {Hope}</a>


    <hr>


    After long enough, I had every single member of the Cy-Stars going along with an idea which was considered partially insane not long ago. It was all too interesting to pass up. We wanted to answer the question of whether or not people from the South were really any different from people of the North, within the continent of the United States. Therefore, every last one of us picked specific areas of interest as starting points, branching out and around, looking and scanning for anyone interesting enough to be bookmarked for later review.


    Initially, our progress was unfruitful, boring, and hung the same return sensations, as hours turned into days, days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months. Always were we searching, our efforts tireless and constant, in a race against time. Once the season of late spring and early summer come along, all our access into these zones will be blocked out entirely, leaving us in the dark. Luckily, after two months of our initial start, many of us found unique targets of our own to watch for more prolonged periods of time. For whatever reason, our concentrated efforts seem to concentrate in areas further inside of Georgia, on an age group ranging from kids to teenagers, though such was never a preference.


    I had about three separate individuals marked for further one-on-one study before finding my fourth, and most of them of course were just little children. There were a number of elements that would make a particular person interesting. One such element pertained to a strong, concentrated degree of psionic potential and aptitude discovered during my psionic scan of the general area, person to person. One of my persons of interest has an incredible aptitude for psionic potential, so much that anyone who sends her a purge will succeed without any possible hindrance. It''s rare to have a girl with this much psionic potential yet untapped. If it were any higher, she might develop psychic abilities on her own.


    There were other strange elements too. Lots of people here seem to be introverts, more so in younger grades than in older grads, and go out of their way not to talk to anybody if they can avoid it. My second target has this trait to an extreme level. She''s in the third grade, and never speaks a single word unless required of her. Her dedication to her vocal silence is oddly fascinating to me. Her psionic potential is above the minimum, but not far above it. I don''t know if she is really intelligent, super quiet, or both.


    My third target, who is short of being a teenager by one year, seems to have some family issues. I''ve recently told myself not to care so much about people in such situations for being a person of interest, because it often leads to a sadness of sympathy, and an unhappy ending I''d rather not get invested in. Still, I''m curious if she will maturely handle the chaos that is her crazy parental situation, or break under the weight and pressure.


    My other sisters had situations fairly similar to my own, in terms of what criteria they wanted to use to find these hidden gems, and we would convene with each other often about our current progress, including personal information about each of our targets, as to not wind up sharing the same target or general location too closely.


    Still, if I had somehow missed what was going to happen to me next, there wouldn''t be any story for me to tell. After thinking I was never going to find anyone truly interesting or worthwhile, and after growing slightly bored of my own special project, my senses caught onto something mystical and impossible at the same time, coaxing me to deliver my focus in that direction.


    I was already using my vision to pan and scan all around the elementary school, Robins Elementary if I recall the name correctly. Children have a knack for being interesting on their own, because despite how much they have to learn, they can be surprisingly knowledgeable about some elements in environments that adults overlook. If an adult says something wise or smart, not as many people seem to care. If a young child says something wise or smart, it raises a few eyes.


    Having determined the sensation to come from the school''s playground during the daytime, I shifted my view to that area, constantly looking around and scanning as many of the students as possible, trying to find this curious source of mental curiosity. Whatever this is, it''s stronger than it should be, and strange, considering we normally don''t pick up on feelings and sensations through the clairvoyance. It isn''t psionic, but it is something I feel like I recognize.


    At last, my remote view centered on the disturbance I felt nearby, bringing this unique human into full view. To my instant amazement, the target I sought didn''t turn out to be a little girl, instead a young boy, with blond straight hair almost covering his eyes, my clairvoyance only favoring third-person mode. Sitting all by his lone self, silent as stone, this boy leaned against the unused merry-go-round. He interacted with nobody, spoke no words aloud to himself, and enjoyed none of the physical amenities presented to him at the playground.


    <hr>


    Chapter Theme Shift: Fairy Forest ~ Rita Raga</a>


    <hr>


    ... As I stared longer at this individual, he did something unexpected. The stranger stood up from his leaning position ever so slightly, panning his face to the bright blue sky above him, and held his intense gaze in my forward direction, as if he were staring directly at me. His eyes were wide open too, with color and energy delivered through his body and mind, awake.


    "What is this?" Though my other sisters would hear my confusion, I couldn''t look away from what I was seeing. My eyes and ears could only detect surface level, but I could sense much more from what was before me. This person who I''ve never seen before held such a strong and amazing expression on his face, one I felt too familiar with to mistake it for anything else. His eyes reflected the sky, though desired to see ever further. Wonder and curiosity about the world around him, those two traits were something most people share, but to this much intensity?


    "What is it Lumina? Find something?"


    "I..." I couldn''t answer at the moment, my attention wrapped around this individual. He took forever to inhale and exhale, extending his mental montrum of the external thoughts I could sense but not read. Something about me knew in context what he was wondering about. Something about me knew he was in thought deeper than sleep, awake in a world far from his own... Why did he react only when I located him? There''s no way he could sense our presence out of the blue!


    Junko filled in the blank for me, certain I wasn''t about to yield my focus just yet. "She probably just discovered another outlier. Give her a minute at least."


    No amount of minutes would let me understand what exactly it is I sense within this child. His entire behavior is abnormal, especially considering his gender. I know there''s no way he is sensing us watching him... But he does sense something outside the realm of psionics. His aptitude isn''t exactly high where it is above minimum standards. What is he looking at in the sky? What is he wondering about?


    For all I knew, he could have been imagining what he was seeing, testing the mysterious elements and depths of the mind. Maybe instead, he was trying to envision what that sky would look like in the future, whether it would be blocked out by clouds of the rain, or displayed as the rare phenomena of a purple dawn. Both of us seemed to stay like this for many minutes, he in deep thought and sensation equivalent to mental meditation, and myself, fascinated by whatever elements of the abnormal stood before me.


    Eventually, he averted his gaze from the sky, changing focus constantly to other things around him, rather other people... He was observing them, looking onto others in fair durational study to guess and determine likely personality traits of the people around him. Only then did I realize, that this individual is by far the most insightful person I''ve yet to observe. So reserved, yet insightful about the entire world around him and the people within it. This behavior isn''t totally rare on its own, if only ever presented in people above his age level. Is that why it''s so strange though?


    Something in me changed in this long moment, where logic itself began to break down, to a point where my own thoughts born from wild imagination began to run rampant. The initial prospect of what the two of us were doing was crazy and ironic. I''m watching a boy, wondering what he is like, and at the same time, he is watching other people too, wondering what they are like, inheriting the same role as us Altiri, despite a total difference in physical abilities. Even I can accurately judge character just by looking long enough, but if he can as well, it''s impressive.


    Beyond the mere inception of the situation, I was late to consider the realization that made him all the more strange... I don''t sense a single trait of heathenism within this boy. I may wind up wrong about such a conclusion, but I don''t think I will be... How much does this stranger know, about the world around him and people in general?


    A moment later, the teacher called everyone around, declaring the end of the Recess. The person of interest seemed slow to react, and I watched in amazement the little aspects of body language never projected before, hearing the teacher from the range.


    "Time to head back everyone. You too Reed."


    "Reed..." That''s his name. This loner student''s name is Reed. As he was called back, Reed didn''t immediately react to head back inside. It wasn''t some protest to stay out longer, but rather a complex division of his attentive surroundings. I could easily tell that Reed was still in deep thought about anything and everything, which was partially what kept his pace slow, unwilling to take away from the allocation of intense thoughts in his mind. I also saw where is eyes landed and shifted, keeping himself slow to return against the teacher''s hustle, merely because he noticed two other girls taking their sweet long time to do the same. He managed to consider that conforming to such hustle was irrelevant, due to the lag of other people around him, which would cause delay later anyway. Patience, born from a level of intelligence and insight of the environment around him, lead me to believe that Reed could sense more about the world than any average person. It was a conclusion I''ve already made, but I could only be more certain now than I was before, and more fascinated as a result.


    "That''s an interesting name. You have me curious as well," Fionne admitted. "Tell us Lumina. Where is the location of the Reed girl?"


    "It''s in a place called Robins Elementary School in Georgia, near Austell..." I didn''t bother to correct them just yet about the details of Reed, for I was still trying to process it all. The more I thought about it, the more curious I became. It was certainly a strange moment, more than enough for me to add him to my watch list. I''m going to keep track of the others as well, but I will especially keep an eye on this individual, to see how intelligent and unique he really is.

 Chapter 010: Nature and Nurture

    <hr>


    <03/02/149,559 {Avion 148} - 17:41 | Corral Position, Genosis, Altiri Sector Space>


    <Karnak to ACS414 Date Equivalent: 03/02/2003>


    "I''m sorry. I just don''t understand it." Sounding rather annoyed again, Ashiela tried once more to comprehend the reason behind my choice in persons of interest. Even though only two days have passed since I''ve seen Reed, I''ve been keeping close eyes on everyone in my mental notes.


    "There isn''t much to understand," I defended. "Reed isn''t a female, nor does he behave in a manner presenting like one. That said, he also doesn''t behave in any manner like the average heathen either. All aggression is absent from his mind. Any desire to control anything is also removed from his priority. Heathen or not, he isn''t like the other students around him, and so he remains isolated, desiring friendship while failing to find it due to the rough nature of those nearby." It''s not like I''ve done anything wrong, nor am I in any trouble from anyone. Still, there are four of us in particular who have zero tolerance and patience for anyone who even might be a heathen, so they weren''t happy to hear when I told them that Reed was a male child.


    "Would the four of you knock it off?" I wanted to hug Junko right then and there for being the voice of much needed reason. "We''ve observed countless heathens in our time of observation, and never was such an observation held against any scrutiny. If you do not cease hounding Lumina for her list of interests, I will personally put all of you in line." I have to remember never to get on Junko''s bad side. She''s quite a fighter, nearly impossible to defeat in most techniques.


    The four of them, Fionne, Ashiela, Hurma, and Derria did in fact knock it off as Junko requested, though the conversation would persist longer, since Sherika was still curious about the matter. "I would still like to ask, in curiosity, what about this individual has peaked your interest so, especially considering his stable life and young age."


    "That''s just it." A majority of those who are most insightful usually have or used to have something significant happen to them, usually negative. Aside from the obvious fact that Reed seems to be alienated from every other student around him, given that his weirdness isn''t well hidden, there are not many shortcomings in his life. His parents seem nice enough at least; I followed my view of him through the bus ride all the way to his house, wondering if I would have more clues there. From all of this, maybe I was wrong to think that it takes significant happenings to be an insightful person. At his age though, even I must admit it is rare. "Reed is strangely insightful about the world around him. I know I keep saying that like a broken record player, but you''d just have to see it for yourself to understand. The other three I''m tracking have a level of insightfulness about them as well, but it isn''t exactly the same, I think."


    Without more than a second, Junko stood up for me once again, even though Sherika''s question held no other meaning or intention. "You have nothing to explain Lumina. There are going to be many weird or interesting people of the world. I don''t know if we can say that people of the south are different from people of the north, but you were still correct all along, in assuming that our search would be worth it. Even I have found a few rare individuals, or hidden gems as you like to call them... Just be careful not to get too attached."


    I wanted to argue that Junko had the wrong idea to think that, but it has happened to me before. I''ve seen woman of interest make horrible decisions, just after I started to care about them more than I should have. When I see someone suffering past the point of willful suicide, it''s impossible for me not to wish I could somehow intervene. No matter what, we Altiri cannot intervene though. We can''t send out a blip or signal to tell somebody to do something differently or to encourage them. It''s the biggest downside to watching someone long enough with our clairvoyance. I don''t want to fall into a depression like before ever again, so I know already not to let myself get too attached. "Oh Junko. I''ve since learned my lesson from before. Even if I prioritize or prolong my viewing of these specific humans, I''m not going to wind up in a desperate situation like before." I wish I could forget how horrible it felt, to watch someone die, to watch someone want to die, and have no power to stop it.


    "I apologize Lumina," Hurma returned, uttering a phrase I almost never hear from her even when we should. "It was just unexpected is all. Having found a person of interest who is also a man¡ª"


    "A young boy," I corrected.


    "¡ªisn''t what concerned me much. It''s what you said after, that you thought he wasn''t a heathen, which threw me off. You should know already that no male is ever safe from such influence. Even if he is innocent now, he won''t be later. Some heathens are the way they are from nature, born to be evil from the moment they leave the womb. Others start out innocent, but embrace a never-ending influence of heathen propaganda prevalent in every corner of their world."


    What Hurma was saying held some merit. I personally have yet to see one, a single heathen on Earth who danced outside of the core traits we identify them by. Rumor from other aggressor groups suggests that there are such people in that world, males who don''t subscribe to an ounce of heathenism, though there is and always has been zero proof held to such a rumor. I personally do not buy it.


    Perhaps this is the reason why my sisters and I have had a bit more interest lately in the children and some teenagers compared to the adults, as they usually are untouched and unaffected by the gross corruptions and faults of humans all around them, innocent until they grow up. Hurma has a point. Even if I am fully right, in that Reed has no hint of such traits in him, one day, the influence will hit him as well, turning him into some dumb man with zero respect for most others around him. It happens to everyone really.


    Still, just because Hurma was correct, doesn''t mean I wanted to hear her say it. "I know already, Hurma..." Suddenly, the weight of my sadness began to crush me more than I expected it to, enough that it flashed outwards to everyone else in every ship.


    "What''s wrong Lumina?" Junko was the first to ask, but everyone else wanted the same answered.


    If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    How do I answer though? Even I don''t know why an obvious, unforgetful truth made me so sad. "Nothing." What else could it mean anyway? Every single person we watch and observe will one day break, one day be corrupt, or one day destroy themselves from the weight of a heartless society everywhere they go.


    "Perhaps," Rose inquired after so long keeping silent, "the truth which has been stated is what saddens her so. Just because every male becomes a heathen, doesn''t always mean they should. We''ve seen so much psychological damage these days that even women dedicate themselves to unspeakable acts now; humans of either gender becoming worse where morals are concerned. Lumina? We understand why you feel this way, but it is also the reason everyone urges us not to become too attached to any human individual. It isn''t good for us, to watch someone slowly grinded away to dust from the failures to control all rationality. Humans are far more flawed than us, and their mistakes permanently change who they are as people, too often to count."


    Even Rose has a very low standard of humanity. It wasn''t high to begin with, in all of us really. Even though I didn''t want to admit it, I think she was right on point. I wasn''t upset because Hurma reminded me of the truth; I was upset because I didn''t want this to be the truth anymore. I wanted at least a few people to become outliers and exceptions to the tainted reputation of humanity, and to outgrow the social boundaries of their own environment, becoming their true and best self.


    Even I''m not that naive. Other aggressor groups, while not plentiful, will often purge a human being based on such hopes, and while it might work out for some, it doesn''t work out for everyone''s best interest. Purge number 13 is one of many examples of this. Some of those fools throw away so much, risking their lives, all to get nothing but potent despair in return. If the wish of a purge doesn''t come true, the result is a curse I''d rather die than feel, based on what I''ve heard anyway.


    "Listen everyone." Even if I know what I know, it won''t change how I am to conduct current activities. I''ll just have to be more careful. "Grateful as I am for your concerns, those who I decide to shadow and how I shadow them are my business and my personal choice. I will continue my efforts unchanged, and I will ensure I balance my focus between all four of my targets equally. There is no need to dwell on this any longer."


    "If you say so..." Talor didn''t sound so sure of herself, though I wondered if she was thinking the exact opposite way Hurma was a moment ago. She''s always overly sympathetic, even when she doesn''t need to be, making it a mystery to how she and Hurma get along so well.


    <hr>


    Chapter Theme Shift: We Are One (Suduaya Remix) ~ Arus</a>


    <hr>


    With the debate out of the way, as time ticked on, everything seemed to continue the same for a while. That''s what I told myself anyway. After enough time passed, we realized that the summer season of Georgia hits quite early on in their months, between late April and May, if going solely by temperature alone, and it lasts for as long as late October, with few exceptions occurring in September and August. As soon as it did, all of Georgia became invisible to us and other scryers alike.


    I knew where all four of my previous targets lived, but once winter rolled back in the same year, I only cared about three of them. Time dragged on, this strange cycle on prolonged repeat, as days turned to weeks, weeks turned to months, and months turned to years. Most of my other sisters changed their entire locational focus in order to keep up with the initial mission of this special project. I on the other hand wasn''t ready to let go and see this story end.


    I kept my eyes and ears in Georgia, despite being told I should just move on. I don''t want to summarize all that happened in the years that followed, but explaining it now would be its own long story, one untold until later. As the years ticked on, the targets continued to mature and grow up, little by little. Lina, Mel, and Reed, who were the focal points of my interest, eventually became Lina and Reed. Before long, all I could focus on was the boy, whose exact element of interest was always hard to pin down.


    I had nearly become disinterest in his background life at last, when change struck his quiet and calm family, his parents in the vice of divorce by the time he was only in the third grade. He went from Ovlar Elementary to Bereton Elementary, ascending up the ranks of grades, but descending down from happiness. As life became more uncertain, so did his faith in ever mingling with those around him.


    I found it fascinating on its own, that all Reed wanted to do in his current life was find and establish genuine friendships with the others, even among those who never had the same interest on their agenda. He ignored the small level of bullying, the mental onslaught of social rejection, and any insult thrown his way, as if it simply bounced off him, and as he spoke aloud to himself more often, I quickly came to understand the plight of his blunder. He simply wasn''t surrounded by the right kind of people, by those deserving of mutual kindness and minimal attention.


    I was so certain by his constant refresh of persistence that I assumed he, the only child who was an exception to heathenism, would never change for the worse despite Hurma''s warning. However, by the time he had reached the fourth and fifth grade, the constant lack of involvement with others dug into his sensitive heart like daggers, and somehow, despite sharing no psionic connection, I too could feel such pain from here.


    Before I ever understood why, our heartbeats synchronized in pattern despite mine being much slower. With no identity to what held me in desperate attention to his surroundings, I watched Reed closer than I''d ever watch anyone else before, learning every detail, every trait, and every likely thought he must have had. I watched a beautiful art of true observation chip off, shut down by the perplexity in all life had not to offer him. Had I only seen this for a few months, I''m certain I would have been able to detach myself from his reality.


    Instead, I became even more obsessed over the years, ignoring the concern brought on by my sisters who thought I was losing my mind, and perhaps I was. Years, I repeat, sitting idle and incapable of helping a hurting soul, slowly dying from that horrible feeling people realize when they are certain nobody loves them. Reed even tried on more than one occasion to change, just as Hurma would have warned me earlier. He tried to mask his own emotions, his own morals, and instead parrot the more popular heathens he observed nearby him. To some degree, his plan was beginning to work, but in both examples, for reasons I still yet to understand, he backed out of the change. It was clear he was fighting for something deeper inside himself, something I could almost feel but not see, and I only wanted to know more. In every aspect imaginable, I became encapsulated in his essence, his desires, his hopes, and his despairs. I cared not that this was all beginning to control me, my focus entirely on his situation and his world, rather than my own.


    I of course only grew more desperate in wishing I could do something. Reed, the most kind-hearted male human I''ve ever seen in all my years of living, was left suffering in agony, wishing merely for social interaction. It might be something simple to the rest of people, something most would declare ease in getting over or ignoring such pain, or that it might be naive. But to Reed, it''s all he can think about now; I just know it already. I didn''t spend years watching him grow up to not understand how he feels by now.


    Did I allow myself to get too attached and sympathetic to a single human subject, or did I merely wish to heal this one soul of a despair I still remember 100,000 years later? The solution he must make is simple, but if he chooses the easy way out instead, if he changes himself to become a heathen, like all other men nurtured into the role, there won''t be a road backwards for him. I''ve seen it many times myself; those who grow up embracing the worst side of themself only to impress or influence others, they never change back.


    I went into this project to determine if people from the south were different than the north. My conclusion after many years into it is: I no longer care.


    I can''t really explain why I feel this way, why I''m so hung on ensuring Reed never changes who he is. It wouldn''t be right. It wouldn''t be fair. He wants something that he deserves to have, something that should be easy to get, if only most modern humans were not so warped and twisted. He is so sensitive about everything, that even he understands this problem without solution. All he wants is someone more caring to talk to. All he needs is someone who will listen to him, someone who can share mutual care for, where his parents no longer share the role. All I want, is to help him achieve this need, before he breaks, before I break!


    I know already what I''m going to have to do to resolve this, and I know my sisters will all oppose my decision. Even I know I''m not thinking clearly. I shouldn''t be doing this at all. I shouldn''t even be considering it...


    But I must do something!

 Chapter 011: We Only Get One

    <hr>


    <02/28/149,565 {Avion 148} - 15:45 | Corral Position, Genosis, Altiri Sector Space>


    <Karnak to ACS414 Date Equivalent: 02/28/2009>


    "I beg of you, Lumina. Please do not drag out our collective failures with your insane jokes." Derria spoke to us directly, as she and a few others had teleported into my ship to discuss what we already knew by now.


    "And I beg of you, to not take the words I say to you as lightly as one would in a jest." Part of what she said was not arguable, even to me. We all spent a few years scanning all places of the south, and while we surely did not study more than two percent of the entire local zone populations, it was spread out enough and long enough to get a basic picture to the question I presented long ago. I''ve already let everyone know I ceased giving the mission significance a while ago, though here we are circling the same issue.


    So I began again, certain as I was to do what I had to do. "This very situation is unlike anything we''ve faced before. I know what I''m asking from all of us, what it would mean... You must understand that I cannot turn a blind eye to someone so innocent, suffering in heart too much to bear." My target, my person of interest who I had been watching grow up passively for years was still the center of my mind, the center of my focus. I''ve watched him long enough to know that his entire future is soon to be doomed, if nobody intervenes in his life and helps him turn it around.


    Fionne was here with us as well, speaking her voice while everyone on their respective ships listened with their minds. "This is by far the most unlike you I''ve ever witnessed Lumina. Nothing you say is making any sense. I understand the situation you present to represent for this one human, but it is a situation that happens far more often than most are led to believe."


    "Fionne is right," Sherika assisted. "Most of the humans we do see are so messed up or broken, that those who truly are innocent on that world wind up the same or in a worse position. Sad as it may be, we have seen this happen before directly, more times than I care to count. Why now would this one human be any different?"


    I wanted to thank Fionne and Sherika for understanding at the very least that the aspects of this one human''s uniqueness had little to do with the obvious and more alerting factor, but Hurma was not so understanding, and she interrupted all of us in person to remind us of this one fact. "All of you are forgetting the bigger picture in this problem. Costs for all of us aside, this Reed you have become fond of is nothing more than a putrid, disgusting heathen! His age matters not! All who are male in that world will turn out to become a heathen; it is bred into their genetics."


    Standing my ground cautiously, I had to nod my head in front of Hurma, forgiving her overwhelming anger and hatred for any and all men which we all share. "It should be obvious to you by now that I have judged him to be totally free of all heathenism influences. However, I''m afraid that if something about his situation is not changed soon, all of that outside influence will eventually affect him."


    "Then how can he of all people be any different to the billions of heathens already there? He is no exception. All heathens are the same! There is no such thing as an innocent male."


    I knew this wasn''t going to be easy. Half of everyone didn''t even take my presentation or plea seriously at first. What I''m asking everyone to help me with is more than tough; it''s practically impossible! There is only one way I can think of to help Reed out of his dire situation, to prevent him from becoming someone he we will later regret. If I''m ever to talk to him or befriend this unique soul, the only way I can do that is to deliver him a purge, activating his Cora sector and giving him the power of limited telepathy, between his world and ours. "You''re wrong about this time Hurma. I''ve paid close and careful attention to his character. I''m sure I''ve never met a soul like his before. His own self-awareness and insightfulness to the world around him shields him from many toxic influences that society trades around."


    "Lumina, if I may speak?"


    I was already fairly upset with Hurma for being so unreasonable about the situation, but since Sherika was the one wanting to deliver more dialogue, I offered her no resistance, her intelligence and charisma trustworthy to us all. "Go ahead Sherika."


    "Your statement of Reed''s character and your desire to suddenly purge him are both in contradiction. If he is as capable of handling his own mental development free from influence as you say, then there would be no need to intervene in his life for any course correction."


    Sherika doesn''t know how bad his situation has become though. He hasn''t suffered the same horrid things others on Earth often do, but he also has lacked much of the necessary interaction for any balanced happiness. All Reed wants in life is people to befriend, and none offer their hand to him even when he breaks free from his passive introversion momentarily to try. His mind may be solid, but most hearts are fragile, and his is more sensitive than I would have guessed at a first look. "But that''s¡ª"


    Sherika cut my off with her hand signal before I could say anymore, unfinished with what she had to say. "Furthermore, the clear fact that you are so fixated on this one person of interest, to even go as far wishing you could purge him, is proof of what Junko warned me about earlier. You''ve grown too attached to your subject of study. It was bad enough that you failed to switch targets and locations when all of us did, but here you stand now, ready to make a life-changing decision for someone you barely know."


    Her words dug into me, hurting more than a thousand stones. What Sherika said to me was not harsh, for it was mostly truth. I was certain she was only wrong in two specifics; Reed''s ability to make it on his own without catastrophic psychological damage, and the notion that I don''t know him well. "I do know him though, more than you think!" The agitation of my voice didn''t seem to add any weight to my promise for the others, but I knew I was correct. So what if I''ve allowed myself to become so attached to Reed? It is for this exact reason why I know him more than others believe.


    I watched Reed passively grow up, getting to know the person locked inside, always wishing to be expressive, yet so afraid of exposing a sliver of his personality to those around him, where everyone is so judgmental. If any human ever saw him for who he really was, they would laugh and claim he is too sensitive of a person; but the truth to it is, his collective sensations and sensitivities are his greatest strengths, so much that he is his own unique person, worthy of appraisal outside an already tarnished human name. I cannot call him a heathen, an idiot, nor even a representative of any other human. In fact, I''ve never seen a young man with so much respect for life than Reed, in the thousands of years I''ve been watching ACS414. He is the exception. He is someone special.


    I''m willing to risk everything in my life to prove what I know to all of us, and I can use a psionic purge to do so, to change the course of his life as well as our own, but I need help and support in sending a purge; I cannot do it alone. "Please everyone. I know this decision will not let us down. We have finally found the only exception to the rule of heathens, and we can sustain that person''s need for companionship. I need all of your support to make it happen."


    "What you ask is not something to be taken lightly Lumina. Do you even hear what you are asking all of us to do? Do you really understand the never-ending consequences of what it really means to purge somebody?" Talor lent her mental voice to us as well from the comfort of Hurma''s ship, giving me another barrier to bypass.


    "Of course I understand the price for a purge. I was there for that lesson, and we recently refreshed ourselves on it not too long ago. I know what I would be giving up, what I would be asking my sisters to give up. Still, I implore you to understand why this cause is worth it."


    Junko inhaled with her eyes half shut, hating the very idea of standing in opposition to my heart. "I don''t want to doubt you Lumina, but what if you''re wrong?" Before I could even answer her in assurance I wasn''t wrong, Junko elaborated where she wanted to go. "This is a purge we''re talking about Lumina! You don''t make a choice to do something like that out of mere desperation, for someone who isn''t important to us. You hear me? We only get one! Once we use up our purge, that''s it. We''ll never regain that ability ever again, no matter how many times we die and come back from the Astral. When it''s all over, only you would be the one to speak to the purged target, while the rest of us suffer in the same tribute, gaining nothing ourselves in return."


    I did my best to hold the tears back, hard as it was to prove my sister wrong. What hurt most was how she so quickly assumed Reed was unimportant to me, and then Sherika piled on. "Lumina? I recall a promise you made to all of us in the past, a promise that you would never try to enforce any of us to utilize or support any decision to purge any human being."


    "Without good reason," I finished what I too could remember.


    "And what good reason could there be to purge an enemy of The Unity? I don''t know where you left your brain Lumina, but you better find it soon!" Still as hostile as ever, Hurma made it very clear what her answer on support would be no matter how much time was to pass.


    Still, I needed to remind her that Reed is not a heathen. "Reed isn''t an enemy of The Unity, and he''s more important to me than all of you might presume."


    From what I could only imagine to be from Hurma''s never-ending hatred for all heathens, she finally snapped as she turned to me, raising her voice of malice beyond what any of us had ever seen her do before. "This is exactly what we''re talking about! Nobody here has even addressed the strict protocol we have against purging male humans. Even if you had our approval, which you won''t have, it would be completely forbidden to purge this subject, since he is a heathen."


    "He isn''t a heathen¡ª"


    "All men of any society are heathens!" Hurma was practically screaming at me, her arms and legs clenched with the tight vice of rage and memory. "You''re being played for a fool, by somebody who currently has no awareness of our peaceful covenant. I thought I knew you better than this Lumina! You of all people would never let yourself be fooled by an enemy who has yet to mature into their role."


    "We can all stop him from becoming a heathen Hurma! What''s wrong with you right now?"


    Hurma turned around with her arms crossed, huffing before her response while our argument silenced everyone in the main room. "That should be my question to you. There isn''t a single Altiri soul in this world who would ever make the mistake in judgment you are making now, not even for a moment. No purge is ever going to change what heathens really are, nor will one prevent such a development. It doesn''t matter how much self-control you think this enemy has. Men are a lot harder to control than you think."


    "I never said I wanted to control Reed. I trust he can remain a good person on his own, if only someone will show him the way."


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    "Stop using his name!" Still enraged, Hurma turned towards me again, her eyes fierce enough to petrify anyone else. "If you don''t cease your stupidity, I''ll make you understand. I''ll remind you of our collective training, about what Legasso forced all of us to feel!" Hurma balled up her right fist, certain as she was to instigate a physical brawl between the two of us.


    "Enough!" Shouting between the both of us, Sherika jumped between myself and Hurma, ensuring no fight breaks out. "I will not allow you two to go this far just to fight. Hurma? Even if Lumina is currently misguided, she is still your sister. Please do not raise threat to her, just to make a point. It''s vulgar."


    "Like I care." Hurma''s attitude remained, though she did back down with Sherika blocking her path to me. "As for the two of us being sisters, we may have to reconsider that."


    Everyone in the room gently gasped at her bold statement, while I could only stand and quiver... I knew Hurma was mad, but I didn''t think she meant what she just said... She didn''t mean it, right?


    "Forget this sham of a meeting," Hurma phrased as she walked towards the teleportation room. "Lumina? If you want to go out of your way trying to waste a purge on a single heathen and be reprimanded for it, be my guest. I don''t care anymore, because I''m not going to have any part of it, nor is Talor." She didn''t use Talor''s name lightly; Hurma and Talor have been best friends for such a long time, and now, both the two may very well attempt to leave the Cy-Stars in light of this insanity.


    <hr>


    Chapter Theme Shift: Rain No Water ~ RA</a>


    <hr>


    Though I had expected yet to hear from the others off this ship, everybody seemed too silent for too long, leaving me to drown in an unfamiliar despair. At last, I could cry, but I didn''t wipe my tears. After waiting for Hurma to depart from my ship early, I did what I could to see if anyone else was on my side. "Everyone...? Are all of you going to abandon this move too?"


    Crossing her arms, Junko inserted a clause before any could answer the loaded question. "Before putting such a choice to an immediate vote, I think there is still far too much for all of us to consider, including you, sister." "Even after what Hurma said, she still isn''t changing her mind."


    Though Junko meant not for her last thought to project, I wanted to address her anyway. "I don''t want to feel this way about Hurma. Junko? I need you to look into my eyes, and into my mind, so that you may understand why this is such a big deal."


    Junko actually did stand there looking at me for a moment, and then she tried to think back to the other few times similar things have happened. "I''m sorry Lumina, but even then does the reason elude me. There was a time not long ago, just like this, when you centered much of your time and attention to a female human, noticing many similar patterns."


    "But this time there is difference in the targets."


    "How so?"


    I knew exactly who she was referring to, the memory too fresh to forget. "The girl from before, despite wanting the same thing, despite wanting love or everlasting friendship from the people around her, she was too willing to compromise herself for their selfishness, and she too turned vile after many years passed her. Even if she had remained the same person, the fact that she didn''t try to fight for herself for long was one of the reasons I knew it was for the best not to purge her, and to move on. But Reed is different. He''s down there alone, and to the moment is still fighting the stages of peer pressure in his own silent rebellion. He''s willing to be himself so long as at least one person can accept him for who he is. He has a resistance to the negative influences around him. Of course it doesn''t make him immune to change; no person is, and he has nobody in his life to encourage him anymore, especially since his parents are behaving about him differently, after their divorce."


    "That may be all true, but I still don''t understand why it falls under the highest possible priority to you." As Junko mentioned it, Fionne, Sherika, and Derria were all staring at me with matched curiosity and concern.


    I couldn''t help from hesitating in my answer, since it was impossible to place into words. It happens occasionally, even on Earth, that one person observing another understands circumstances about them that they don''t even recognize themselves, and it is followed with a desire to help. There''s always initial barriers of resistance, like the embarrassment or fear of getting involved in that other person''s life. So often do people fall into place, but fail to reach out and help someone else who needs it, from shyness alone. I''m more than willing to get involved, and so I''m in a perfect position to help him, since all Reed wants most is a friend...


    But that''s not the whole picture of how I feel. There''s so much more to it, much of it perplexing even to myself. I know that some of what I want for Reed is also what I want for myself. My reasons for wanting to purge him are not exclusive to wishing I could help him; I also hope that Reed can speak to me without a hint of deception or distrust in his voice, to reflect his entire mental essence and all he feels in front of a friend. I want to be that person he can trust, that someone who can be there for him. I want to be involved in his life, and for him to be involved in mine.


    Even as a human, even as a thirteen year old, I''m certain he is capable of understanding us, no matter what world we come from. Even as an alien, his heart is so open, so easy to read. Even as a single insignificant person to the entirety of the cosmos, he will be important to someone, someday, and he''s already important to me, because I want him to be happy. I want him to break free from everything binding him down on that horrible, doomed planet, even if it has to cost so much from me... I want Reed; that''s enough reason for me to keep an unchanged mind.


    "That''s difficult to put into words." I couldn''t lie to myself or the others, despite needing to convince every last sister to help in what I must do. I couldn''t look anyone in the eye for a second, ashamed at my own unresolved confusion about why Reed is so important to me; I simply do not know.


    "Please try." Fionne sounded desperate to understand me, and she gave me this look I''ve never seen from her before... All of them are looking at me this way now, as if they could sense my desperation from within.


    How could I explain my own emotions to them? I don''t fully understand how I feel myself. Even so, this doesn''t invalidate what I truly want. What I feel doesn''t always make sense or provide an answer as to ''why,'' and maybe it isn''t supposed to make perfect sense.


    When did it begin exactly? When did I find myself becoming this attached to Reed''s life situation? It all goes far beyond a life situation now. I was intrigued from the moment I laid eyes on him so young, certain that his passive observation of the world around him was excessive compared to the normal folk nearby. Reed is a dreamer, a person who has so much hope and faith in other people, even strangers he does not know. With his naivety exposed to him already, his hope and faith waivers. Reed is the co-dependent friend without the other half to function, his attention and focus sharpened at the mere idea of talking with somebody else hoping for a deeper connection to permanently form. As the fuel in his heart dries away, his gradual despair deepens ever further. I have seen it already, and seen much more of it this year, a despair he shows not to his own family.


    Thinking about it so much now allowed me to realize something extraordinary, that we Altiri are not too different from his core behavior, after accounting for the difference in maturity. Who am I to really say that I can do everything on my own? I would have been lost forever had it not been for Sierra and my sisters pulling me from my plunge. Even Hurma, in all she feels now still relies on and trusts Talor so much. Every single person in our world has at least one friend, and it appears that such a latent requirement to functionality holds true in the human world as well. Despite this, not all humans realize the importance of this deeper connection; often do they warp its very meaning if they ever think about it at all, focused more on money, power, unassociated popularity, approval, or any of the other fallacies humans lie to themselves about.


    Reed needs someone in his life, and he''s looking around in a world of these lies, hoping for what he needs when the chances of that already appear to be so low... So maybe that''s when it started; when I realized how much of myself I could see in him, not by personality or traits, but rather the desire to be connected with someone, to be friendly with someone, to be loved by someone, no matter the framework or capacity.


    It doesn''t matter why I care about Reed. All that matters now is that I do. However, with Hurma and Talor out of position to assist me, I now need everyone else at least, to form the minimum personnel requirements to deliver a purge to an alien, to someone I want to be friends with. All I can do is try, as Junko requests. "Without knowing why, I''ve easily come to understand Reed, beyond his personality, and beyond how he feels. It''s hard to explain, but..." I did the best I could, trying not to fumble my words, but what I felt in all of this had no easy explanation, and an eerie silence ensued for longer than I wanted it to.


    "You''re connected to him."


    "Huh?" Derria''s words were cryptic to all of us, though she seemed super-focused on me, inching closer to confirm what she meant.


    "I can see it written all over you, but it isn''t something just anyone can understand... You''ve somehow managed to get inside his mind, more than mere observations should allow."


    Unsurprisingly, Lulu was quick to wonder what Derria was going on about, since her physical definition was impossible. "You can''t really mean that Derria. Our clairvoyant powers don''t allow us to read the minds of others, nor do they capture enough thought dynamics to experience the emotions of a remote target. Lumina? You must be mistaken."


    "No, no. Even I disagree with Derria on the assumption. I mean, I know how Reed thinks and feels, but not physically, and not as result of some weird power."


    "I wasn''t trying to be literal," Derria corrected. "The power of observation is sometimes enough to achieve the same result, if we are so certain the result is not merely a projection of what we want to be true." Derria kept looking at me like something new to study, eliciting curiosity from everyone else. "Perhaps Lumina, in this case, does not need anything beyond her ordinary powers and focus to determine the type of person her target is. Enough of a kind of, hyper focus on a different individual may be telling of who they are, heart, mind, and soul. There have been examples of this in Lumina as well, rarely."


    "Only this time, we have the power to do something about it. We have the power to change a person''s entire fate, giving him the chance to choose better."


    "Pray tell, how exactly does a purge on Reed give him the power to choose better for anything of his life?"


    "What he needs most right now is friendship. I will use the connection made through the purge to offer my time to him, for this purpose."


    "I must admit," Derria cautioned, "even though your intentions remain clear, it doesn''t change that fact that this is a most unusual situation to be in. Also, Lumina, I''m still of the mind that your entire position on the matter is too strange for comfort. The risk and the cost that you alone would have to pay doesn''t come anywhere close to balancing against the benefit you stand to gain. In addition to such risk and cost, the same extends to all of us, to any Altiri willing to help you achieve your purge through the amplification process. Just because I finally understand how you feel, doesn''t mean I agree with you."


    "Derria please! I''ll owe you everything. I''ll do whatever you want!"


    "I''ve heard enough." With visible disappointment in me, Fionne nodded her head, and made preparations to leave the ship. "I used to know you as the most reasonable, level-headed leader that all of us could look up to. But now, it''s like I don''t even know you anymore... You''re not going to get a vote out of me, and I doubt you would get any votes from anyone else right now. Your raw desperation to merge your senses with this alien individual is pathetic Lumina, and all of this is besides the fact that this kind of purge would automatically be declined by the queen."


    "I know that already. We would have to take yet another stacked risk just to get the purge through."


    "Whoa! Hold on now." Sherika now voted against me as well, for reasons of her own. "You want to intentionally defy the queen, breaking the number one law that they don''t just slap you on the wrist for? No, your choice would also drag all of us into the same kind of punishment as well. It''s obvious that no scryer or authority''s power would ever allow anyone to purge a human without permission, especially one that is a male."


    "But I told you all already that Reed isn''t a heathen!"


    "Will the queen and the others really see it that way?"


    "Listen to Junko on this Lumina. Even I can see why this is such a horrible idea. Even if what you want is real and pure, Reed isn''t a female human, and so you are never going to get your wish. Purging him without permission would literally brand you as a number one threat against The Unity, by treason if nothing else. For your sake at least, I won''t just stand here and talk you into that."


    "Sherika!" Nothing I did or said was working. Virtually every single member of the Cy-Stars was either abstaining from helping me, or voting against the idea altogether, even my very own co-pilot!


    "I''m sorry Lumina, but this is a choice that none of us can support. You need at least seven of us to take part in the purge without killing yourself in the process. Since you already have no support on this, and for our own collective interests, even I must vote to pull you out of this dangerous way of thinking."


    Their words sunk in deep with the ensuing silence, and I could no longer look a single one of them in the face. Not a single person here today is willing to help me. I know full well just how costly a purge is to anybody, but if I can''t get through to Reed, what the hell have we even been doing all this time?


    What is there to do on this ship but sit here and rot? Thousands of years pass and this world barely ever changes, resisting ascension in every possible manner. Our species is in decline even with the transperation experimentation looking more promising, and we have nowhere to branch out to. If we can''t even communicate with these other aliens, what was ever the purpose of our observation with them? How many more humans need to suffer before a single one of them can be allowed salvation from willful self-destruction? What is even the purpose of a purge if no aggressor group can be trusted to invoke them responsibly?


    "Lumina? You good?"


    "Just go. I want to be alone for a while." Despite how cold I was being towards Sherika, Junko, and Derria, more of my thoughts were still allocated to every manner of simulation and daydream about how it might go between myself and Reed. I wonder if he would theoretically accept me there as a friend, despite our differences in origin, and despite the difficulty which would present itself from my presence lying unprovable to other humans. Even so, it was almost all I could think about.


    Still, the betrayal from my sisters removed what air I could breathe. I don''t really want to do anything anymore, but to huddle up in a corner and let the endless currents of time chip away what remains my shattered soul. Though they were hesitant, the others fulfilled my less important wish of leaving me to my ruin, heading for the teleporters to leave my ship, as Junko held my shoulder briefly before returning to the cockpit for routine coordinate adjustment.


    Every cell in my body screamed as much as it could, demanding that this could not really be happening, but reality is often cruel and unfair. I''ve been hit with waves of new emotions today that I''ve never felt before, and now, all I can do is nothing. I gave into this new entropic doom, realizing how small and suffocating this world was despite how vast many claim the universe to be.


    What kind of leader am I, when any choice I make is brought down and destroyed? What kind of person am I, when all I feel matters to nobody outside myself? I have to wonder if Reed ever feels the same way, questioning who he is when nobody cares about him, no matter how brightly he tries to shine.


    No such thoughts would be of any use to me now. I did my best to tune everything out, until I could care no more, silent in my uncomfortable corner, where everything I am could dissolve into the all.

 Chapter 012: Unbreakable Bonds

    <hr>


    <06/02/149,565 {Avion 148} - 09:00 | Corral Position, Genosis, Altiri Sector Space>


    <Karnak to ACS414 Date Equivalent: 06/02/2009>


    Even though few months had passed, my withering stretched the time longer, as I ceased caring about anything else in our world. Despite every attempt made from my sisters to try and cheer me up, nothing they said helped anything. I don''t know why this one kid matters to me so much. Maybe it''s because I''ve seen the same cycle of time affect someone so pure, destroying them from the inside so many times, where Reed''s ensured destruction was the final crack I could take.


    I held back as much as I could invoking the clairvoyance to check up on him, only doing so occasionally to see if his situation has improved or worsened. As expected, elements in his life were only getting worse, Reed becoming less in tune with himself, more isolated than ever before. Each time I learned what I already knew, it drove me deeper into the darkness none could pull me out of.


    I told myself nobody cared about anything human or Altiri. The very purpose of our learning operation, for most Altiri would eventually lead to somebody worth purging in the first place, but if I can''t save one single soul from crushing sadness, if I can''t even try, what then is our purpose here? Did our discovery of alien beings mean nothing to anybody else? Was the entire purpose of all this merely a means to ease boredom through entertainment? Whatever the answers in life are, I''ll never find them like this.


    Just was well, I cannot force my sisters to assist me in sending a purge. The cost really is immense for anyone involved, and I promised them the freedom to vote and choose if ever the situation came up. I still thought I would have majority support; how wrong I was!


    I never set out to manipulate anybody, my tears genuine, my heartbreak too real to belong in an act. I think, merely out of sympathy if nothing else, Talor and Junko eventually changed their minds about what felt right in the mess I had made. Talor was with me right now, huddled beside me, holding me tight while talking in random sprits about all the things she learned about the human world. I cherished every second of her words and company, and loved that she would dare to take my side even though nobody else would. It made me feel a little better, despite knowing that three Altiri would never be enough to pull off a purge.


    Hurma of course wasn''t happy about Talor''s large heart, and she even proposed disbanding the entire aggressor group of Cy-Stars over this. I told her she could do whatever she felt like doing, and I knew Hurma was not bluffing about the threat. Our passive opposition only made our entire mental network all the more hostile, though I''ve given up fighting them long ago.


    I would have sank even deeper into nothingness had Talor not been beside me, talking about everything. "Even though everything has wound up like this, I''m glad I got to see the human world, to study so many unique people and their lives."


    "I''m not okay with this though," I implored. "What''s the point of always being a passive observer, unable to interfere, unable to change a single thing when it matters so much?"


    "I wish I had known earlier, that you wanted to enact a purge on somebody whenever you found the person you thought you would connect with most."


    I held my tongue before Talor, wondering why she didn''t know the truth in my heart already. I couldn''t see the harm in revealing everything to her, as she is one of very few I now trust. "So have I... I never planned on using a purge; it was the furthest thought from my mind for the longest time."


    "And Reed changed your mind that quickly?"


    I nodded, denying her claim, only to come to terms with what I should have realized long ago. "I think it slowly crept up on me, bubbling up with every victim I had to watch suffer or die at the indirect hands of their cruel world." Humans sometimes have such fragile hearts, especially some of the women there. I''ve lost count how many times I''ve seen the light of hope leave their eyes, how many times they have taken their own lives, and how many times they too have warped their own essence to better fit a twisted environment around them. I''ve gotten close to some of those kinds of people before, and it always stuck with me, always has it hurt me so.


    Humans speak of a separation level of thought processes, something they call the subconscious, versus the conscious, in which thoughts we have do not register for quite some time, yet do have a latent effect on us. Perhaps as I continued to observe all the hell I never wanted to see, some part of me subconsciously wanted to embrace the option of a purge more and more, as time went on, unaware of my feelings, until I was.


    "So then, all you really want to do is help Reed?"


    I had to inhale deep and slow before answering, aware as well that my motivations were not entirely pure. "I want to help him, but I also want to be part of his life too. I don''t know why I care this much Talor; it''s a sensation I think I''ve never felt before."


    "You say you don''t know that sensation, but I think I do."


    Suddenly she had my full attention, having never expected Talor to learn something that I didn''t. "What is it then?"


    Talor glanced at me with a soft smile, though I could see her crying inside her mind, through her body language without having to shed one tear. "I''ve seen the way you look at him with your far-sight, and how deeply you connect with what he is feeling despite never being linked to him once. They don''t call this care Lumina. The phrase you''re looking for is love."


    "L-Love?" What does Talor mean by that? There are a lot of different complicated types of love, and even I barely understand most of them as observed on Earth. I love Talor, and my other sisters; I know that I do... But is that really the same feelings I hold for him?


    "You seem to have a talent for seeing the inner depth of a person''s entire heart and soul without ever talking to them, and you''ve demonstrated such talents, at least far more often than we have. I think it''s the reason most of us are confused on why you would so suddenly desire to purge a human that could quite literally become our greatest enemy. You see something inside him that none of us have seen as of yet."


    "I do," I admitted proudly. "But what of it? I''m powerless to do a single thing about it."


    "Are you sure that Reed really needs your guidance and input to survive as he is now?"


    "I don''t know..." I couldn''t be certain, because everything I''ve felt for him now is all mixed up and confused. Even if I was able to purge him and complete that cycle, there''s still the chance that it all amounts to nothing in the end. I''d still rather try than not try. "All I know is, he is a kind soul, no matter what Hurma and the others may think. But if something happens to him over the years, if he stops becoming the person I adore so much... I don''t know what to do! I can''t accept that!" As I''ve done hundreds of times over the past few months, I broke down into a cry again, with Talor here to comfort me.


    The sadness never let up; it only continued to intensify within. I thought my damage would have left me emotionless and brain-dead, but instead, I was forced to bear the intense weight of everything splashing from my heart. Many of my sisters have been distant from me lately, only because these horrible, hurtful feelings leak into them from the telepathy, something they would rather ignore than to share with me.


    "Sister... You are crying in despair again?" Luna let us know she and the others had been listening to us both, through Talor''s senses as well as my own, while everyone had inadvertently absorbed much of my sadness through the telepathy.


    "Some of us are getting sick of this torment Lumina. How can you be this torn up over one human?" Ashiela spoke before risking Hurma catching wind of this, knowing how vile and unsympathetic she has been lately.


    I wasn''t sorry for how I felt, and their telepathic snooping was the only reason they were sharing in my pain right now, something I never asked them to do. "Few of you understand, and those of you who do, care not about my sadness."


    "I dispute that claim Lumina. We all care about you."


    Sherika wasn''t capable of fooling me through her empty promise. "You think you can just give it some time and I''ll be back to my old self? I''m never going to recover from this, everyone. Reed will soon be no more, either cut down by his own hands, or swallowed on a path of lies and deceit meant to warp him into something unrecognizable. I have already detected a beginning to the pattern."


    "Lumina? This is Rose speaking. I understand your sadness, but not your methods. You know already that we''ve decided in collective not to risk sending a purge to anybody. You cannot change what is to come because of this choice. Not to sound harsh, but why don''t you try and move on from this experience?"


    "Move on to what exactly?" As I addressed Rose, my mental voice turned fierce and toxic, enraged at the thought that all of this could simply be steamrolled. I then amplified my energy, ensuring every single sister in our fleet could hear me. "Is this really what all of you want? Think back to everything we''ve ever been a part of; everything we''ve ever done and been through, and ask yourselves if it was all worth it."


    "What do you mean by that Lumina?"


    "If you would stop to think about it long enough, Fionne, you would quickly realize how pointless this life really is." My anger quickly melted back into the stronger sadness binding me down, as my voice delivered all of my pain to everyone else as I spoke. "Despite everything we''ve ever gone through, we live in a world of entropy. We live forever, but our numbers still decline, our ability to birth removed. We Altiri, The Unity, claims to be an amazing race of people, but how magnificent are we? We are slowly dying off one by one, our progress stopped and our minds wrapped in another world we can never interact with or change."


    "Everyone knows this already."


    "I love all of you." I whispered my confession, though its weight surged so powerfully from my heart. "You and other friends have helped me out, helped me become the person I am today... But now, I want to do something for someone else in need, something only I can do. If I have not at least the ability to try, then what further purpose is there for us on this side of the world? Discovering the human race was one of the biggest things that has ever happened to us, and instead of doing something about it, we''re just watching their world, their people, both guilty and innocent - decay!"


    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    At last, my words got the attention of Hurma, who had been listening in the entire time, and so she felt the need to drive her point in like before. "Lumina. All of this has nothing to do with the target you are¡ª"


    "No Hurma! You''re wrong. This has everything to do with the people that we watch. Do you honestly think the people down on Earth are always as happy and cheerful as they appear on the outside? Many of them wish for miracles they know will never come, because they too are powerless, unable to change a fate most cruel to them, a fate many do not deserve to have. I once needed more help than I was willing to admit, and all of you pulled through for me... But now, Reed is the one who needs our help. He''s wishing for a miracle of change, for anything that will make his life any amount more livable, and I want to help him. I don''t care if my emotions are motivated by something crazy, by something selfish, or by a love forbidden on its own."


    "The faith you put in such a stranger is going to be your downfall one day."


    "The lack of faith that you have in others is even more appalling. It''s anything but honorable. Even so, I still cannot force you to make a decision."


    "You got that part right," Hurma snapped. "Nothing you say can change our minds."


    "Hm. I won''t force anyone to do something they are so clearly against. However, I will continue to hang down here and beg! I beg every last one of you to help me purge Reed during this year''s autumn, because I''m not giving up." Despite how hopeful I meant to sound, I''ve never felt as hopeless and defeated as I do now, though this too resonated around to everyone else.


    "Lumina..." Talor''s sympathetic gaze was stuck on me, though I could tell something else was digging into her too, as she became suddenly desperate within five seconds of silence. "Hey, Sherika? Come on; hasn''t this gone on long enough? How come nobody is willing to help her after all these months long?"


    "Do not try to coerce me into changing my mind Talor. What Lumina feels now is merely a passing phase."


    "A passing phase? Look at her!" Talor held her eyes onto me when she spoke, sharing her vision to everybody as well as Sherika. "Lumina has been in this state for months now! You said before it would pass long ago, and yet she''s still right here, heartbroken about the one thing in life she has ever felt worth fighting for."


    "Talor¡ª"


    "And where have any of you been during all this time, huh? Why am I ever the only one who warps into her ship and visits her?"


    "You know why," Ashiela answered swiftly. "Any time we get near her now, our minds are overwhelmed with her immeasurable sadness. To top things off, we do not agree with her wish to purge a human being by dragging us along for the ride."


    "That''s inexcusable!" Talor was something fierce, even though I never asked her to stand up for me on my behalf. I didn''t want to admit that she was right, because these little details were something I didn''t pay much attention to. Even so, why is she the one so fired up about it? "Even if you disagree with her; even if you think she is wrong; or even if her sadness spreads to us like a disease, she''s family to all of us. Even if I have changed my mind about the purge, it is not the reason I''ve been here for Lumina this whole time. I cast shame on all of you for failing to at least visit or comfort my Lumina." She of course meant exception to Junko, since Junko has been here for me as well, being my co-pilot and all. Still, I wasn''t expecting this intense ire to leave her lips.


    "Is she family though?" While short and simple, Hurma''s reply put a shock in all of us. I remembered quickly how at odds she was with the rest of us over this, though I still never would have expected Hurma to turn her love away from the only friends she had. The cascade of gasps was loud for any of us, though Rose replied on our behalf.


    "How dare you speak such treachery, Hurma. Have you really lost your love for Lumina, all because of how she feels towards a particular person? I don''t condone your spread of hatred onto one of our own. I don''t care about the semantics of the situation anymore. You apologize to Lumina right now!"


    "I will not. Lumina is going to have to learn from this the hard way, even if it takes an eternity. Or, as I mentioned before, we could simply disband the Cy-Stars. Maybe then, she and Junko can merge with a group that wants to play this stupid game." She left out Talor, only because Hurma mentioned before that she would physically never allow Talor to leave.


    "Stop fighting you two! Hurma? If that really is how you feel, then I won''t stop you from leaving." I didn''t want to let Hurma go for any reason, this adding more pain to the wounds already in my soul. "Even if you hate me forever, I''ll always love you, as my sister, whether you deny it or not."


    "You are too forgiving Lumina..." Rose didn''t want to continue the argument, but saw no choice in dropping Hurma''s disgusting comment to pursue a bigger matter. "But Talor presents the most rational argument. Combined with how you''ve felt about this for months, I can finally admit that I was wrong. I''ve been wrong about this for a long time. I''m sorry Lumina."


    "It''s okay Rose. I never asked any of you to warp into my ship to console me."


    "Yes you did," Rose argued. "You didn''t ask with your voice or your mind, but I still know you''ve been deprived of our love for far too long... Purging Reed would really make you the happiest person in the world, wouldn''t it?"


    "Well..." I didn''t know why she was asking, but I had to take a moment to answer. "Purging Reed is only the first step. Becoming his best friend, somebody he can count on, that is what would make me happy. And what would be best, is if none of us had to be split up and divided to make it so. I don''t know what I am to do Rose. I want to do whatever it takes to get through to him... But I can''t just abandon all of you."


    "... Very well. Since that is the case, though it scares the hell out of me in more ways than one, I shall alter my position on the matter, so it that I am an ally to your cause, rather than an enemy."


    "Rose?!" I as well as many others were just as surprised to hear what she just announced.


    "Why fight this? We may only get one single purge, but then, what''s the point to having one if we never-ever use it?" I would hug her with my cold embrace if I could reach her. Rose; that''s the kindest thing anyone has ever said to me!


    "You''re not serious, are you?" Even Fionne kept up a resistance against one of the most respected of all of us. "You''re supposed to be the smartest person in our group, the most intelligent we know. Your change in vote makes no sense!"


    "On the contrary," she argued back. "I''m not doing this because it makes the most sense or because it feels like the smart thing to do. I support my sisters, those I care most about. I opposed this idea because I thought Lumina was making a mistake, that she was doing something unwise, and perhaps the possibility still is that her choice is unwise. Even so, I won''t stand against her any longer, not when her lack of control is killing her from the inside as it has been for months and months."


    "But¡ª"


    "I''ve seen enough bright Altiri burn the life out of themselves in our world, and I will not have another casualty of despair... If we don''t do this, there is a guarantee that nothing will ever change for the better. But if we help Lumina with what she wants to do, even though the probability of success is still insanely low, it is higher than zero."


    "In that case, you can count me in too." Though I had to see through Rose''s eyes to determine Sherika was holding her shoulder speaking to us both, I was understandably shocked that she too had changed her vote so suddenly.


    "Sherika? You as well?" Derria was just as surprised, though we could all feel the doubt and dissidence within her.


    "I may not fully agree with the choice to purge this particular human, and since he is a male human, putting aside all of the consequences and dangers of doing this without the royal approval, I personally do not trust that he will come around. That said, I do trust Lumina. I''d rather be with her and wrong than be against her and right. It is crazy, but that''s just how faith works sometimes. Rose and Talor have convinced me that this is in fact the right call. As a purge still becomes stronger and more successful with more of us pitching in, I ask that all of you think about this again, and reconsider what is at stake here."


    ... The space around us fell dead silent, with nobody else speaking up to volunteer for such a risky plan of action, until one eventually broke the silence, Hurma. "You already know my answer."


    "Perhaps, but an answer so swift is not really a consideration at all."


    "You want to know why I''m so against this? It''s so simple, that I''m amazed none of you can remember. Reed is a male! This means the human is a heathen! There are no exceptions! Is that too hard to comprehend?"


    "Lumina states otherwise," Talor defended, "and I for one believe her. What if you''re wrong Hurma? What if the rest of us all decide to send this purge, and you decide to leave yourself out of it? Even though you''ll still be part of our group, you''ll never be looped into what is going on after that point."


    "I don''t know why this is so hard for you all. He''s the enemy!"


    "In your haste to mark Reed as an enemy, you have also decided to treat Lumina as one and the same. You don''t have to take part in this purge Hurma, but you should not hate Lumina for what she wants to do."


    "Even if it''s treason?" Hurma was determined to go back and forth between herself and Sherika, while all of us listened passively.


    "What''s more important? Stopping what may or may not be considered treason, or helping your sister when she''s in need, even if only for moral support?"


    "You do whatever you want. I am not part of this."


    "As you wish. We still need about two more volunteers to assist in this purge at minimum. Will any others step in?" It was one of the most important requests Sherika has ever made from the Cy-Stars, and I was too amazed to speak up for longer, realizing that nearly half of the entire aggressor group has suddenly decided to support the miracle I wish to make.


    Rose is right about one thing. The chances of this purge being a success depend on too many factors to count, and the probability matrix is one huge mess. Every sign of luck points to my efforts being wasted in failure... But I''m ignoring the probability matrix this time. I don''t care anymore what my chances might look like, or if we get reprimanded and punished for defying the queen later. I will purge Reed, and I will save his life!


    Time had to pass for more to change though. In the span of twenty-three days, little by little, the others eventually changed their mind about wanting to help me, and it wasn''t easy to convince any of them. Lulu and Luna were the first Sherika and I focused our efforts on when it came to convincing them of this choice, as they were abstinent to my wish for the longest time. They only agreed on the premise that they could one day be allowed to speak with Reed directly when the connections become stronger.


    As for convincing Fionne and Ashiela, it was a tougher challenge than we expected. Neither one of them wanted to give up what powers they would have to in order to help me purge one person, and they argued with us endlessly to not be involved with a heathen, taking Hurma''s side in the approaching decision. In the end, it all boiled down to how much they were willing to trust me, with promises to fight and hurt me if I was indeed wrong about Reed''s core identity, promises I accepted willfully.


    Derria agreed shortly after the others did, by proxy of not wanting to be left out of what would be a change in destiny. Then there was Hurma. With every other sister onboard with the plan, we had more than enough to send a purge without Hurma''s help. However, purges sometimes fail for various reasons, and the increased amount of those assisting will increase the chance of success. On top of this fact, I didn''t want to leave Hurma out of this choice, because I knew deep down, if I did, she would ultimately make the choice to leave us forever, causing me to lose somebody irreplaceable to me.


    With a final push in person to convince Hurma, she was as hostile as she always was. "I don''t need to keep repeating myself to you Lumina! Even if you''ve somehow gotten everyone else on your side, I''m not going to be part of this purge! I don''t have to force myself to do so, and you have plenty enough to make the purge a success without me."


    Hurma; if only she would understand why I''m asking her to do this. "I want you to be part of us Hurma. I know that you''re planning to leave the group if the rest of us go through with the purge."


    "So what if I am? Is that a crime, compared to what all of you are about to do?"


    Even though this has gone about as well as it always has, I decided to use less of my words, and more of my feelings to reach inside. I stepped in front of Hurma, and tightly embraced her in such a strong hug, one she was not expecting.


    "Hey! Wha¡ª What are you doing?! Let me go!"


    I did no such thing, not until she understood how much I will always love her. "I don''t ever want you to leave us Hurma. No matter what horrible things you keep saying to me, I know you don''t really mean it."


    "Oh, I mean it!"


    "I love you Hurma, as my family. I will always love you, no matter what you say or do to me." It''s such a simple statement, but one overpowering, and I meant every part of it. My words were strong enough to pacify Hurma in my never-ending hug, as our shared sadness began to resonate together.


    "Then why must you do this Lumina? Why would you go through the trouble and the risk?"


    "Because Hurma. Even though nothing will outweigh how I feel about all of us, I love Reed too, and I trust that he is not the evil, vile monster that you so often accuse him of, if only you would trust me."


    She didn''t have to ask if everybody else agreed with my testament, since it was clear by now that every other Cy-Star was going through with this. "You''re making a mistake, and willing to go through with it even at the threat that I leave this group for good."


    After releasing her from my hug, and seeing her true face for the first time in months, I made another promise to her. "My choice must be made Hurma, but it doesn''t mean I don''t care about you. If you do leave our group, I''m still going to visit you all the time."


    "Even if I don''t want to see you, and if I go into hiding?"


    "You won''t hide from me Hurma. I will find you if you try to escape me. That is what I mean when I say I love you. It isn''t some kind of joke to us. You''re always going to be our sister, part of us, no matter what happens."


    Oddly, Hurma glanced downwards, looking more confused and conflicted than ever, though she didn''t really change her mind either. After a prolonged awkward moment of silence, Hurma turned around towards the teleporter, planning to warp back to her ship, when she stopped and hesitated before us.


    I waited in moments to pass, as Hurma turned around abruptly, hugging me back in a strong embrace, with more emotion than I''ve ever seen out of her before. "I don''t support what you are doing... But I can''t hate you for it Lumina. When you decide to send your purge, give me notice before you do, so that I know to leave and evade the fallout of your insane ideas."


    "I will Hurma. We will be set to purge Reed during sometime this Fall, when the weather in Georgia begins to cool again... I wish you well."


    "Yeah..." Hurma let me go at last, though she seemed uncertain about what she was supposed to do, standing there for half a minute before making her path towards the teleporter. Once she left us, Junko walked up behind me, giving me the one last chance to change my mind.


    "I won''t let go of my sisters either. I will tell you though. Since you plan to purge him in the fall, this means there is still some time available for even you to change your mind."


    As if I could. I let Junko know where I stood on all of this. "The summer of Georgia has been in effect for some time now, and we have a few months before the purge will officially begin. I will still check first when I can, to confirm that we are not too late. When the time is right, we will bring Reed into our senses, overlapping his perception with mine, until he understands the truth of our worlds."


    "I''m only doing this to follow your lead, because I trust you and everything. Just remember Lumina. With this kind of purge, we''re only going to get one chance."


    "I know... My life was changed for the better, thanks to all of you being there for me. Now, I will extend this feeling, and bring what has been missing from a soul suffering so far away. It may only be one life, but it''s still important to me. When the time is right, we shall send our purge."

 Chapter 013: Experiment #24

    <hr>


    <08/11/149,565 {Avion 148} - 05:49 | Transperation Station 9, Genosis, Altiri Sector Space>


    <Karnak to ACS414 Date Equivalent: 08/11/2009>


    Before long, that fateful day fell into our laps, and I among the others was a nervous wreck walking. Rose and Lulu helped guide us into the station we would be using for our operation, getting the doors open and the systems checked before going any further.


    After walking into the spacious main room of the advanced and clean facility, the others slowed down for a moment, giving myself plenty of time to think and consider what was happening right now. We had docked all of ours ships to the outer mooring bay, and were now entering transperation station #9. This station that floats in space is a holy sanctuary for all of us in Genosis, and there were moments in time where loads of prestigious research was done here.


    One of the details Rose wanted to be certain of before we boarded however - was the total absence of all personnel aboard. Unlike all other purges, this one must remain a secret until we can launch our signal. Hiding our attempt is not going to be easy, since the psionic surge of energy is something any Altiri could detect at any range. Luckily, the place was totally abandoned for the cycle, though that will change after today.


    This station doesn''t require people onboard to run the facility at all times. The station for the most part is not even in operation, especially for its purpose in conducting transperation. The more advanced AGCR system here can run on its own, resistant to errors for far longer than it could in one of our starships. Since transperation is so rare that only eight total attempts over thousands of years have been made, (where only four of which successful), it isn''t unusual for this place to be devoid of other Altiri crew. The point is, we''re alone in this station, and nobody else knows we''re here.


    "Remember to keep using our physical voice at all costs until we begin. It''s the only way we can hope to shield our planned activity from the queen and her snooping scryers." Sherika only meant to take additional precaution, needing not point out the obvious fact that any Altiri could aim ordinary clairvoyance into this station and see what we were up to at any moment. Optimism requires that such extra detail be unspoken, and I wasn''t about to disagree.


    After everyone seemed to catch up to us, I waited for Fionne to point out in general where we would have to go. The last time I scanned Georgia, a rare air current had dragged its temperature zones down into the lower forties, and since it should still be before sunrise there, we have time on our side. Even so, I''m more alert and nervous than ever, all fragments of doubt scratching at me from beyond the void I cast it to. I had also never conducted a purge before, so this wasn''t going to be easy to hold much confidence to.


    "Over there is good," Fionne pointed, addressing our collective attention to the observatory deck in the corner. The place she pointed had several reinforced windows for viewing the outside world directly, right where we could see the reflected light of our star amidst the infinite cosmos, with slight angular view of our ring nebula. That view really will be good for the process, helping us stay focused.


    Technically, there is nothing in this facility that is meant to conduct or even help with a purge. All of us can send a purge from our ships or anywhere else, but there is a good reason for coming all the way out here to do this. One element required is our immediate proximity and presence to each other for the psionic amplification aspect. With some of us separated on our own ships, a purge is not possible. We can''t all warp onto just one ship, because if we leave the consoles for too long in corral position, the AGCR will need readjustment, causing ever-so-slight microscopic movement of our ships in outer space, which locks us out of the teleportation machines used to get back. Plus, if my studies on this purge process are accurate, this will drain the living hell out of all of us exactly ten seconds following our action, and keep us drained for far too long to pilot a ship safely. Despite the preparation for risk, Talor packed all of us additional water bottles to hold for the time being, the substance set to instantly restore at least part of our lost stamina.


    I was as sure as I was ever going to be, and I had all of my sisters on the station with me, preparing themselves for the most challenging day of our lives.


    "If ever there is a time to be wary, it is now. Do not make mistakes and ruin the only chance you will get, Lumina." Standing and facing me so closely, I was still somewhat intimidated by her words, as they were a warning not to fail, less I fail myself while dooming all of my sisters in the process.


    "I can''t thank you enough for pledging to do this with me. I will promise you that this choice will never be in vain, Hurma."


    "Tch! It better not be! Why did I even agree to do this in the first place?" Though still locked in vice with doubt, Hurma was here with us as well. Despite the threats and promise she made earlier to not be involved in this purge, she changed her mind in the end to join me. I don''t know what in the world possessed her to sacrifice those abilities she cares so much about for something she doesn''t think worth effort, but I''ve never been happier to see her with us now, agreeing to engage in the amplification process with us. Hurma is going to be part of this purge as well.


    "That is something that puzzles even myself, but I''m so happy you''re on my side. I must still remind you that you have the option to standby and not take part."


    "Don''t make me feel worse than I already have Lumina. I really was serious earlier, when I said I would leave the Cy-Stars..."


    "Well something changed your mind, I reckon."


    Hurma didn''t look me in the eyes anymore, uncertain of the reasons herself. "I don''t know really. Joining your purge was the most difficult choice I''ve ever had to make. I can''t seem to stop you, and I certainly don''t want to leave you forever either... I don''t know why I''m doing this Lumina. Maybe it''s only because I love you and Talor that much, that I just don''t have what it takes to abandon you. Or, maybe I''m curious to see what will happen. I know that physical interference in that world is not possible, but if all of this somehow goes south because Reed turns you away, I''ll make it my personal mission to ensure he wishes death on himself through my voice alone, however I have to do it."


    So she threatens to destroy Reed instead of put any shame or harm to me? I''m just glad I don''t have to worry about such a thing; I am too sure he will never turn out to be the heathen Hurma despises so much.


    Derria snapped her fingers before us both, directing our attention to the others collecting at the observatory deck. "I''m overjoyed that Hurma is helping us out as well, but I need remind you that we are on a very short time table here. This station will only be abandoned for no more than another cycle or two, and once we run out of time, there may not be a second chance."


    "Right, I''m joining you now." I couldn''t fight back the smile in me, anticipating what I''ve been wanting to do for so long a time now, and I nodded by head to the direction for Hurma, ensuring she would follow us.


    Derria is right to be cautious about our time too. Even though we can still send a purge if one is not already sent, sneaking onto this station is not going to go unnoticed for long. Once the Royal Scryers realize what we are up to, if we back out of the choice to purge, then all telepathic eyes will be locked onto us suspiciously. In a convoluted way, this really might be our one and only chance to get this right.


    After I reached the others, who were all gathering themselves in a specific circle of linked arms, with myself facing the closest window, all of us began first with the instructional phase, to remind all of us what we needed to do, how we needed to do it, and how long we needed to take. Fionne led us off first. "Listen up everyone. We''ve all studied how to send a purge extensively, and while Lumina will be our main sending node, we all must support her with precision energy, precision timing, and precision processing. One false move, and it could kill any one of us. If anyone needs another refresher on exactly what to do and when to do it, speak up now."


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    "..."


    "I''ll take that silence as good news. We''re all here today, not as the Cy-Stars aggressor group, but together as sisters, to send and aid in the purge process for Lumina, targeting individual human, designation Reed. Since we are going through with this purge without prior approval, we can only assume fierce consequences will follow us afterwards, but we will have accomplished our goal, and Lumina will meet one on one with the person she desires to, regardless of those consequences. Lumina? Knowing even this is something we must face as a team, are you still willing to proceed?"


    Nervous as I was, I was also more certain about myself than I''ve ever been in my whole life. I won''t forgive myself if I don''t purge Reed and try to change at least one person''s life for the better. "I am. Once this is all over, I''ll do my absolute best to mitigate all of the blame from this onto myself, to keep you girls out of prison, if they try to impose this as punishment. Even from a jail cell, I will be complete, so long as I may connect with Reed, as no Altiri has the power to stop telepathic connections from distant worlds."


    Everyone in the room stood silent briefly, hesitant to the light of my promise, unsatisfied with the idea of allowing me to take full blame for all of this. "Very well," Fionne concluded. "In that case, we shall begin the ascension, followed by our concentration aura. Lumina? You must focus all your thoughts on Reed specifically during the process, as well as the process itself, with perfect balance. We will invoke the sacred chant to synchronize our efforts during the ascension. Is everyone ready to begin?"


    At once, we all replied verbally that we were ready. From here on out, we would need to switch our dialogue to telepathic channels, to intensify the effect of all our feelings, merging and mixing together during the ascension phase. We waited only two minutes in passive energy collection before beginning together as one!


    <hr>


    Chapter Theme Shift: NORTH ~ (Shamanic)</a>


    <hr>


    With no further delay, I led myself and my sisters to ascension, channeling our psionic energy back into ourselves, becoming self-aware and mirroring every ounce of thought, sensation, emotion, and resolve in all of us. Like a magical crystal pillar, everything we were spun around us in an invisible light, most beautiful to our minds. We maintained this pattern for a while, building up our collective psionic energy, higher and higher.


    "The moment is upon us, sisters. Gather every thought that makes you strong, and concentrate on my energy." On my command, the uncertain shape of this building energy surrounding us became much stronger with the help of my sisters. Even though this was only the beginning, there was much more amplification to be had. This much psionic energy is very easy to sense and detect at range, something we have always been masters of.


    At last, every thought I''ve ever had about Reed began to surface within me, as I had to balance my thoughts between him and my sisters, as well as this psionic data field. The very core purpose of my mission must be realized now! I''m using this information to my advantage, to send Reed the awakening he must inherit, to hear us all, to sense us all, and to understand a world beyond his own. We shall all beg of his astral ears at once; we shall all beseech his ability to feel all of us!


    With everyone standing together in a circle, our hands all clasped and linked together with our eyes shut and our minds opened, it was a burdensome already to concentrate on this purge, but every one of us showed no weakness, and Derria was up next, to begin the sacred chant of our ancestors. "Our minds awaken, our souls linked. Hear the voices of our clan! Take our extensions we offer beyond!"


    Loud and clear, Derria only set an initial tone for the rest of us to follow. Junko was up next, followed by Sherika. "Our energy builds, but only for one. We deliver all we are, until our power is none."


    "Sense the music of our existence, our memory, our intelligence, our personality. Ignore the false boundary that holds us back, and realize all beyond ourselves!"


    In turns, the rest of continued, Rose speaking before Fionne and Ashiela, following our perfect circle of harmony, all while building our energy to new heights. "In the name of our only purge, to the tune of our love, feel our hearts! Sense our souls beyond the skies and the stars!"


    "Our sacred purge shall possess your mind, your thoughts, and your entire personality, until you become awakened like us, until you become alive!"


    "Inherit our power. Deliver our consciousness onto your own, mapped as though our senses are yours."


    Though I would have a bit more to add later, it was now my turn to continue the chant, and build my energy higher. I could already feel my pulse rising, by body trembling in the vibrations of our invisible hymn. "We are the signal you have been destined for! You cannot hear us yet, but you will think from us, until our minds may become one!"


    Next it was up to Hurma and Talor, who would be followed by Derria, Lulu, and Luna. "Our purge shall be your guidance. Let it through; allow this to control every part of you. Do not dare resist!"


    "Our voices will be heard; embrace them. Embrace everything we sing!"


    "The gates of reality open! The boundaries of thought are shaken up by consciousness. We are alive! We are awake!"


    "This is our call, to bring your awareness into our world. Impart our experiences, so that both our realities may overlap."


    "Echoes and signals carry our hearts. Beyond the outer rim of perception, time vacates; space unwinds; energy seeps; reality redefines."


    "Our eyes awaken! Our voice shall be heard! Feel our pulse in a world of infinity! All shall hear us, in time!" At last, it was at this point where our resonation of energy was stretched to its greatest potential, and where I would need to inherit the rest of the process, concentrating more of my thoughts on Reed and of the purge reaching him. My sisters were now silent with their voice, though helped me in amplifying this purge to its rightful level, certain as it would be to reach him from across the universe. "Reed! Hear my voice, feel thy heart. I call out to you, knowing you will feel us all. Accept this purge from me! Accept my feelings towards you. I know you will sense us, and I will be here for you, always!"


    At the peak moment, I did what I was supposed to, filtering our psionic fields through myself alone, blasting all of this collected energy outward into a singular, fixed location I''ve already memorized before. Every thought from be turned to one singular purpose and vision. Learn of me Reed. Learn of us and let my purge teach you telepathy, please! My desperation went with this purge, and in a singular moment, every nerve in my body awakened so strongly, I felt I could fly from the floor.


    About a nanosecond later, all inside me tingled and weakened, while I began to feel the exhaustion of my mind soon after. The pulse which sent out signal through was instant in deliverance, a power nearly exceeding my every capacity of all consciousness, and I felt the same resonate between my crew simultaneously. I knew then, at last, that our work here was already completed.


    With our purge signal sent to Reed directly, in a matter of seconds, he should instantly feel our influence from across the stars, realizing at last that there is much more to the world around him. If he is asleep, this shall waken him with intense passion. If he is awake, this signal shall infuse all we are into his mind directly, even should it take a long time. Our successful launch of the purge was as easy to confirm as ever, and now, we have made a choice we can never go back from. "We have done it," I cheered.


    "That was still..." Lulu merely meant to express how difficult it was to pull off such a challenge, but the weight of her words escaped her seconds later, after a submerging and overwhelming lightheadedness took over, for all of us at the same time, inciting a warning from Derria.


    "Here comes the drain! Everyone drink your water now!" Even as Derria decreed her warning, it was already too late to act on it. Every last one of us quickly dropped to the floor like dead-weight mannequins, our minds clouded and our heads pressurized beyond ordinary comprehension.


    I too was vulnerable to the intense psionic drain crashing onto me from above, its weight pulling me to the metal floor stronger than any gravity, compelling me not to move, though I tried and tried to struggle, reaching for the closed water bottle I let slip from my hand. If only I could drink some, I would feel slightly better, given time.


    Everyone of us who spoke sounded as if their lungs were being crushed, and Junko pointed out the reasons why. "This drain might actually kill us if we don''t replenish ourselves quickly. Fight it sisters! Fight the urge to rest and drink you water."


    I followed by her example of course. After seeing Junko in her epic struggle to merely sip up in a broken slump, I too convinced myself I had enough in me to drink this purified water, its freshness brought to us from Karnak, our thirst evidence of its linkage to psionic energy. With enough struggle in the minutes that followed, I too managed to drink enough to sustain myself from the pressing danger of passing out, though the sensation of dizziness and weakness refused to leave us. "Nobody panic. Take it slow and drink."


    After more minutes passed, with everyone recovering just enough strength not to pass out on the spot, it became clear to all of us that our entire ability to move, let alone stand upright was diminished, and would be for far longer than anticipated. Hurma shared her concerns with most impatience. "This isn''t good Lumina." Hurma, even speaking in her mental voice could not hide her elevated breathing from the workout she so clearly underestimated. "I''m too wiped out to move. It feels like I might be forced into a sleep if this continues."


    "You must be cautious of your thoughts Hurma. Psionic strain is nothing to joke around with. If you sleep now, you might not wake up after given the risk of coma."


    "That is not my first concern, Derria. If we don''t recover fast enough, they''ll come for us. They''ll find us in this state. They''ll..." Hurma''s nervous voice trailed off, her eyes shifting with her vision seeing double.


    I of course knew of this risk and concern. It''s only a matter of minutes now before the source of our powerful signal is traced down to this facility. If the Royal Scryers send a boarding party to take us in, we may not resist in our current state. "Do not exhaust any more of your strength Hurma. It doesn''t appear we can do anything about this. The drain of a purge is even more powerful than we all anticipated... Our lives are more important than our fear. If they take us, I will make certain none of you bare the blame."


    "Lumina," Talor called in such a weak voice. "I can fight this need for sleep no longer."


    "You must drink Talor... I..." Even I was losing consciousness in the same way. Despite all promise I made to keep myself from fading out, I along with most of my sisters were powerless to stop this advance, even after drinking our water. What happens to us next is a future I may not know, despite all of my planning. "I can''t... keep my eyes open..."


    Rendered powerless, all I could do now is hope and trust that everything will be okay. I have more lives than one to protect now, for Reed, and for my sisters, who I''ll always be so proud of. I want to fix everything right now, but instead, I must rest...

 Chapter 014: Treason

    <hr>


    <08/11/149,565 {Avion 148} - 06:55 | Transperation Station 9, Genosis, Altiri Sector Space>


    <Karnak to ACS414 Date Equivalent: 08/11/2009>


    "This is Gillian of recovery team two. Come in recovery team one. Please provide a status update."


    "This is leader Asoka of recovery team one. We''ve already started the boarding procedure and are beginning our search of the facility now. Five starships are confirmed in docking, unregistered. Please standby."


    With the situation inside of the station uncertain, the special unit of the temple''s royal recovery squadron was sent out to discover the source of the calamity. Every single Altiri in the entire sector of Genosis felt that powerful pulse of psionic energy, mistaken for nothing else. Guesses within the command structure were already pointing to signs of an unauthorized purge attempt, though there was still plenty of unknown information to gather, and one of the Royal Scryers assigned to this crisis was breathing down Asoka''s neck for swift answers.


    "A pulse of energy that powerful can only mean one thing, but the reason for it now doesn''t make sense."


    "I asked for your scryers to please standby, Livvia. We are doing our best to determine the situation." Asoka departed from the airlock with her full team of seven in tow, spreading out to search the abandoned facility for answers.


    Normally, Royal Scryers would be capable of using their clairvoyance to see who is in the suspect area and determine identities, along with motives. However, this only works if the targets of the third eye are conscious enough to make sense of anything. If there are unconscious Altiri in this station, then they must really be in rough shape, Asoka assumed.


    Within a few minutes, Asoka and her team discovered the source of the growing madness spreading in news to everyone in the world, though it was becoming harder to believe with each passing moment. "This is Asoka to Livvia. We found them. Looks like every last one of them are too drained to make sense of where they are."


    "Are they all passed out?"


    "Two of them are out, the rest are awake, but they''re having too much of a tough time staying that way... Psionic strain is confirmed to be the problem. They will need to rest in our advanced medical bay in the temple to make a recovery."


    "Give us a visual."


    "Understood. Standby please..." Asoka followed her orders from Livvia, who was the highest one in charge of this new investigation, right below the queen herself. By giving sensual access to Livvia, Asoka shared her immediate visual perception through the existing telepathy between them, showing the faces and downed bodies of all the unfamiliar Altiri persons obviously part of an aggressor group. Asoka knew them not, but Livvia was startled by the revelation.


    "It, it can''t be! No, this has to be some kind of mistake! It can''t be them! Why are the Cy-Stars knocked out on the floor?"


    Despite the boss growing frantic, Asoka kept her diligent attitude and continued trying to psionically scan the members of the Cy-Stars. "It''s faint and uneasy to tell, but their current psionic strain shows evidence of a recently invoked purge... We must have just missed it too."


    "This doesn''t make any sense. Why would the top-ranked aggressor group be involved in an unscheduled purge? I show no records of a single meeting regarding such matters... Asoka? Are they going to make it in time to our medical bay?"


    "Yes. Their drain is intense, but clearly survivable. I can''t make estimates on how long their recovery will take. We can drag them into the temple, but what should we do about their ships?"


    "This is really bad Asoka... Auugh, this has never happened before. If the Cy-Stars really did purge an unknown human unscheduled, then not only will there be trouble, every Altiri in the world is soon to become aware of their identity. Aggressor groups who purge are supposed to stay hidden in the fact that they have ever sent a purge in the first place... I must report this to my queen at once!"


    "There is no need for your update Livvia." Startling both Asoka and Livvia, her gratefulness revealed her telepathic presence to the both of them, joining the revelation. "I just heard everything..."


    "What should we do, my great queen?" Asoka only asked because the presence of the queen only proved how dire this moment was to everyone. Even so, the pause, worry, and hesitation in her gratefulness amplified the concern in us all. Even she is shocked by the news sitting in front of them.


    "I find it impossible to believe that my best aggressor group would ever do something so brazen without my prior approval, so I won''t make assumptions until I can confirm everything for myself. Asoka? Please proceed with the recovery operation. Transfer every last one of them into the medical bay. Leave their ships docked with the station and lock them down for evidence. Block all external communication during your flight back to corral position. Livvia? I will need your help with something soon, so I want you to transfer all you know about this situation to Ethsia. She will take over for the investigation once the Cy-Stars make an adequate recovery. In the meantime, prep the medical bay for their arrival."


    Livvia and Asoka responded gracefully with their full loyalty intact. "Yes my great queen. At once."


    With the days that passed, all who fell unconscious that day were treated well by the royal medical staff, and the Cy-Stars, though slowly, made enough of a recovery to stand and move again on their own power. It wasn''t long before the true nature of the investigation begun, with the wrath of any betrayal to bear its fangs from The Unity.


    <hr>


    Chapter Theme Shift: Aliens ~ Halo 4 OST</a>


    <hr>


    <08/14/149,565 {Avion 148} - 12:01 | Altiri Temple, Genosis, Altiri Sector Space>


    <Karnak to ACS414 Date Equivalent: 08/14/2009>


    When I recovered from my blackout, days later, I had to wait with my sisters inside a temple, all minds and hearts turned against us. This temple is sacred to all Altiri, and is a symbol to the heart of The Unity, just as important to me as anyone else. However, this is no longer a temple of our sanctuary; it has instead become a harborer of collective hatred and confusion, sending our loyalty outcast, as we have taken offensive action.


    The distrust between even the medical staff and us Cy-Stars was evident in us all, though we were thankfully spared most of the interrogations for our time to recover. I was asked in a fleeting moment of consciousness who I had purged, letting all involved parties understand that my treachery went to the furthest step against their law; that my target was to always be on a forbidden list of purge candidates. Even though I was now in hostile territory, every single sister of mine made the same recovery, and they didn''t regret their collective choice for even a moment.


    However, after we had all healed, the push to get us to reveal our true intentions was pressured on by the queen, who had tasked an old acquaintance of ours to be the voice of wrath representing The Unity. I found myself isolated from my sisters in that same private room I was once in a long time ago, with Ethsia staring down on me with fierce eyes. Before I could even say a single word to her, Ethsia, after shutting the door behind us, unleashed her fury as she began her sacred task.


    "Lumina... Is that really you I''m looking at?"


    "You don''t have to hide your anger from me Ethsia. We''ve all felt such hatred festering within you for a while now. And of course I''m me. Who else would I be?"


    Ethsia tightened her fists, trying to melt me down with her locked gaze, as she began to raise her voice louder. "Did you really lose all sense of yourself after the last time you were resurrected? I must ask if you are the same person I used to know, because all I see before me now is an anomaly, an imposter to someone I trusted so much."


    "You don''t really believe in trust, Ethsia, not for us. You''re a Royal Scryer! All you do every day is sit back and spy on every last Altiri, looking and waiting for someone to screw something up."


    "And it appears I should have been watching the Cy-Stars a lot closer. You were at the top of the ranking system and at the top of the queen''s absolute trust. It was for this reason we did not keep a much needed eye and ear on you, but to think you would go as far as to purge a heathen?!" Ethsia drove her hatred into actions, rushing into me with her body weight and slamming me up against the wall. Even though she did minimal damage, Ethsia would never do any worse; her duties inhibiting her ire.


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    "I know you see it that way Ethsia!" I had to struggle to speak, with her hand pushing on my upper chest. "Nothing I say to you will be proof enough that my judgment is not in error, that my target, despite being a male is still not a heathen."


    "You already broke so many laws of The Unity, and these are not petty little laws that you get a slap on the wirst for." Ethsia released me from her strong grasp, but she didn''t release her anger and confusion held towards me. "It sickens me to even look at you! Not only did you go behind our backs to institute a purge without ever bothering to state your intentions or attain our permission, you - at the same time chose a target that would automatically be forbidden by every single scryer of our covenant. Lumina? You have committed the greatest act of treason against The Unity this world has ever seen since the Fall of Zinod. We have substantial evidence of your involvement in this accusation, as well as the involvement of your sisters helping you achieve this new low. Do you deny it?"


    I squinted my eyes to her, knowing Ethsia was never going to be on our side for a moment. "I won''t deny what I have done. I made my choice knowing there would be consequences to follow, and I made my choice on Reed because I knew with certainty, as you have already admitted, that no such permission would have even been granted to me in the first place. However, I coerced my sisters into helping me, telling them everything I thought they needed to hear to help me go through with this. Even though I know they cannot entirely escape blame, it was I who masterminded this entire purge."


    Ethsia stood there facing away from me, shaking her head in the lie she caught me in. "You think I really believe that?" At last, she turned to face me, defying my hope with her twisted promise. "Any aggressor group leader would go through great lengths to cover for their sisters if they were in the same kind of trouble you are in now. Every single member of the Cy-Stars will be considered just as guilty as you, and I will see that fair punishment be brought down on you all, equally."


    "You don''t have the authority to do that just yet," I argued. "Only the queen can make that judgment call, and I have yet to meet with her on this matter."


    "Not to worry. Your trial with the queen will commence shortly. My job is to relay everything I learn from all of you prior to, so that there can be no mistakes in our communication." Ethsia paused before taking a long sigh, calming herself so. "I cannot begin to share how disappointed I am with you Lumina."


    "Don''t worry. I didn''t do this for your sake."


    "All those years ago, when we first revealed to you that there were so many heathens on that alien world, you broke down in our shared anger, and you swore an oath to me. You swore, that should any aggressor group or Altiri even so much as sympathize with a heathen from that world, that you would take action against the traitor, if I failed to see to the matter personally... How ironic things have turned out, to see that I am taking care of this request, yet it is you who has betrayed The Unity as well as your own words and promises."


    I couldn''t hide some of my guilt and shame being reminded of those words, of the overpowering hate I knew too well. I remembered so clearly what Ethsia was referring to, even though I had nearly forgotten without her presence. Even now, my hatred for the heathens is as intact as it always was. I hate every last one of those masculine humans. I would kill every descendant of Legasso if I could.


    Ethsia is right on one front. I made a promise long ago to never get involved in the affairs of this distant alien world, this ACS system they call Earth. I remember being so angry to learn how corrupt their world was, that I had forsaken the entire race of humanity!


    But everything changed over time, when we continued to learn from the human race. Heathens never change, but I''ve seen firsthand that not all males of the human race are as worthy of our wrath as The Unity encourages us to be. Such humans are extremely rare even by my standards, and such as how, I found one at random. Ethsia may accuse me of most what she already has, except for the blind assumption that I''ve made any mistake. "I remember too, Ethsia. You must understand why I did what I did."


    "I picked up the only hint I needed from Fionne, who is also defending this insane act. She informs me that this Reed you spoke so highly of, is an exception to the classification of our enemy, according to your evaluation. Even if such a ridiculous statement were true, and I know it''s not, only the queen''s evaluation of a human purge candidate carries any weight solid enough to rule or act on."


    "I thought you brought me in here for information. Instead, you only seek to berate me for my purge."


    "Only because you disappoint me in so many ways I never thought possible. I believed you were a thousand times smarter than this. I had faith that if you were ever in any tough situation or struggling to find purpose in this frozen world, you would have come to me first and sought out my advice."


    "Your advice?!" I challenged sternly. "You would have called me an idiot for considering to purge a male, and then proceed to paint a target on our backs for merely mentioning the possibility of my desire. And what of this purpose you speak of? What could you and your other scryers possibly have to offer me when I was suffering from my own isolation?"


    "Isolation? I seem to recall the queen giving your entire team some very rare extensions of trust. You have your sisters, and you also have the Stryders and Radion as additional friends you can talk to, more people to converse with, and even the option to retire from the military if you fared better with those on the surface. I''ll be talking with those two groups a bit later. You''re not wrong though. I would have called you an idiot, because that is exactly how you would have behaved."


    "So hostile. Is this how the Royal Scryers conduct their work in elegance and grace?"


    "Hurma." Ethsia wasn''t excited to hear the voice of my sister, but she chose to indulge the intrusion directly.


    "Ethsia," Hurma graciously responded.


    "You know, I am also perplexed by your decision to betray The Unity, among you, Fionne, and Ashiela. It was always my understanding that you especially would never dare allow for anything of this nature to occur in our ranks, even if it was among you own family."


    "It''s not really perplexing Ethsia. You simply don''t understand because you don''t really have a family you can ever call your own."


    "You jest, child. I have my other scryers in the temple I work with frequently, putting people like you in their place."


    "Hurma," I pleaded with most desperation of restraint. "Please don''t do this now."


    Hurma ignored my warning not to get involved, prioritizing my defense instead of her own. "You might work with these other scryers, but you''ve never had to live with them on a daily basis. You may have watched over us enough times to understand how we feel, but you''ll never understand why we feel the things we do. I have seen Lumina''s internalized sadness for years and years without end. I have heard her strongest cries, felt her greatest laughs, and I know her deepest fears."


    "Save the speech for later Hurma. You will have the chance to admit to your own guilt before my great queen in due time."


    Against Ethsia''s wishes, Hurma only continued to press her words down into the scryer. "I stood against Lumina''s choice to purge this human from the very beginning, and was the very last one to change my mind when I decided to help her out."


    "The exact reason why none of this makes any sense."


    "I still think this was all a mistake. I think that Lumina''s vision on this human is narrower than I would like it to be. I think Lumina has become so attached for this human''s wellbeing, that it has affected her judgment, taken and controlled by her admirable quality to meet and help new people. I did almost everything in my power to stop her from doing this... But Lumina was destined to purge this human, determined to go to even greater lengths than I was. Even when I threatened to leave, Lumina told me that no matter how much I would end up hating her for this one day, she would always still love me anyway... Do you understand why she would say something like that to me?"


    "Delusional is the nature Lumina played in that moment. You of all people should have trusted your own instinct before allowing yourself to trust this traitor."


    "Her name is Lumina, and she is my sister! The very reason I agreed to help her in this purge, is because despite everything, I refused to turn her in. I''m not going to let Lumina bear the blame for this all on her own, not when she refused to abandon me so many times. Even though Lumina won''t see it my way, I''m willing to admit this all might have been a mistake, an accidental betrayal to The Unity''s interests, but I will never apologize for what I have done, for trusting in Lumina, for helping someone I can really call my family."


    ... Oh Hurma! I can''t believe you really felt this way all the time. I never wanted to hurt anyone, especially her, since she was so unwilling to use up her only good purge. "You didn''t have to do that for me Hurma, but thank you. I love you too."


    "Then you are as delusional as the rest of your sisters." Ethsia whipped out her frozen sword, only to clank the material against the solid metal ground below, the clacking sound getting our attention. "Regardless of your intentions, there will be maximum punishment brought down on you all. Here are the facts! You, leader of the Cy-Stars aggressor group, knowing full-well the treachery of your idea, premeditated a plot to purge a human that you felt you could not detach from. You planned in advance, because you knew from the beginning how wrong you were to purge a heathen and risk our information leaking out in harmful ways into that world, contaminating our purge experiment among many other unseen social consequences. You then convinced each and every one of your sisters, one by one, that their assistance to your purge was paramount, so important that it was worth betraying The Unity''s interests. Indeed Lumina, you are the guiltiest out of the bunch, and as such, this investigation falls directly upon you as the primary suspect."


    "I know this already." Ethsia must be in link with the queen right now if she''s restating everything.


    "You knowingly and willingly went behind the back of our queen and our scryers without approval, purging an enemy, sympathizing with him even, which by the way is an action that can never be undone. Your decision will have a variety of potential consequences for the human world, though I shall delegate those specifics to our queen. You did this with no regard for the law, no regard for our allegiance, and no regard for the many risks and ailments this could have brought upon you and your sisters. The medics were able to confirm with their passive scans that your psionic capabilities have all fallen down to a degree, and that evidence of psionic strain, combined with everything else, is plenty to prove beyond any doubt that you and your sisters have committed these acts of treason."


    She is in pair with the queen right now. She wouldn''t be talking this way otherwise. Ethsia doesn''t even look sad or upset anymore, just tired and exhausted.


    "I''m sorry Lumina, but the fate that now awaits you is out of my hands. I have made my deliberation. In about one cycle from now, all of you will be gathered, brought into the royal chamber, and sat down before the queen. From there on, the queen will decide your fate. All punishment that you face will be entirely up to her ruling, though I should not have to spell out how obvious it is that every last one of you are totally screwed." Ethsia turned around again, unhappy that this ever happened at all.


    I knew I could feel some remorse from deep down within her. I was never trying to break her trust or betray her faith, and surely she must understand how I mean no harm even now. "So that''s it then? You''re done with us all, ready to simply throw us to the queen for punishment?"


    "What else would you have me do Lumina? You are in far too deep to evade an ounce of your impending doom."


    "If I were in your position, Ethsia, I would be asking myself why this ever happened at all, not from the point of view which incriminates me, but from the question in all of us, about whether everything we''ve been doing about this alien world was right or wrong. Is it right for The Unity to see all human males as the enemy, where there are those who have seen some rare exceptions?"


    "The very nature of the question only proves that we Altiri are not immune from being tricked, deceived, and charmed into caring about lives that may be dangerous to the lives of others. If there are other heathen sympathizers like you say, then I will have to work even harder to track them down, before they ever get the idea to do the same as you have done, to copycat this tragedy."


    "What if that way of thinking is the very treason we should be afraid of?"


    "I still fail to understand you Lumina. You clearly identify most of the male population of ACS414 as hostile, so it is not as though you have forgotten our dark pasts, nor have you cast aside your promise for vengeance should one of them ever penetrate their presence into our world. Despite all of this, you see innocence in a man where no innocence can possibly exist, and then dare accuse corrective thoughts as treason... In time, I hope that you can understand the error of your judgment."


    I wanted to say more, to argue for the sake of delivering my full force of emotion to this cold-hearted temple. I still wish to carry my allegiance even now, but my loyalty has now been divided, between the people I respect, and the people I love. Everything Ethsia said to me just now only drove me further apart from my trust in this world we live in.


    We discovered the alien race on our own. We were the ones that set our eyes on the human world. We were the ones who increased our involvement with their lives, through indirect understanding or through personal interference with the experiment of the purge process. We have already purged 23 individuals, giving few our knowledge of our civilization and of our lives, and have even spread around our own verbal language into their world, so that our future purges can produce better understanding between each pair of nodes.


    Yet, it is our interference that has the power to save someone''s life, just as it has the power to destroy that life. Can The Unity really decree that what I have done is wrong, when they shamelessly pushed their own influence into a world so foreign to us first? Maybe I am in the wrong. Maybe even someone as unique as Reed is no exception to the rule we all share, that every last male species presenting with any level of masculinity is an enemy of us all, a danger to all lives around them. Even if I am prosecuted, even if I am jailed for eternity, I still have the opportunity to use the link that shall be established, to communicate and connect with the individual I have chosen for this purpose. Even if I might be wrong, I have to try. If I am wrong, I shall only know great sadness, great guilt, and great pain.

 Chapter 015: Inertia

    <hr>


    <08/14/149,565 {Avion 148} - 16:00 | Altiri Temple, Genosis, Altiri Sector Space>


    <Karnak to ACS414 Date Equivalent: 08/14/2009>


    In the place we call the Altiri Temple, each minute without words carries a desolate and eerie silence among the low-pitch rumble of the station sub-systems. Cascading on time, each minute in my jail cell felt like eternity, as I confused my surroundings with that of the main room of my old ship, lost in the thought which now consumed me.


    In all this time, I asked myself how far I have fallen, if I have fallen at all. About two cycles ago, I was leader of the top ranked aggressor group in all of the Altiri Military, most popular and most known for our collective roles in skills and in leadership. Yet now, I stand alone, isolated in this room of darkness, more separated from all life than I''ve ever felt before.


    I had yet to truly consider beyond mere fact just how hellish this long wait will be, the wait before I can talk to my Reed. A purge is known to take anywhere between two weeks and two years to forge completion, with the average being one year. During this time, I shall never know what Reed will go through, his life and his world now invisible to me, with my long range clairvoyance disabled for good. I tried to invoke the ability from here, and sure enough, our scientific scryers of the purge were not exaggerating their claims.


    I will be forced to second guess my own choice, my decision to send this purge, for there is strong probability of my goal to end in failure, with a cost irreversible. May this be the punishment I am to face for defying The Unity, or is it merely part of payment given to invoke a purge? Without ability to see the future, I may never know until such time is upon me.


    I haven''t changed my mind. I won''t apologize for what I have done... However, my fears cannot so easily be extinguished. Regardless of what happens with the purge, I am soon to be charged with treason against The Unity by the queen herself, once I am brought to the throne room. Will I be exiled? Will I be imprisoned forever? Would they go as far as to execute me? I don''t actually know how bad this will turn out, because no Altiri has ever done this before and lived to tell about it. I won''t be getting out of this, and so all I may expect now is something horrible, something terrifying to my heart, something that sends shivers through my body even as I am alone.


    "Prepare yourself Lumina. It is time." Livvia, tasked with guiding me to my fate, opened the lock on the prison door, opening a path out of my cell, but not my freedom. I knew already that she was prepared to take myself and all of my sisters to gather in the throne room for our verdict.


    "Of course." Offering no resistance, I followed Royal Scryer Livvia around the hallways and narrow corridors, until I was led into the large and well-decorated throne room, where all of my sisters were awaiting me in silence, as the queen sat in her royal chair of frozen water and ice, below the large overhanging cutout glowing in light for the symbol of The Unity. I have been in this throne room thousands of times in my life, and it has never felt so cold and sheltering as it was now.


    The protocols made the initiation of this moment very brief, and after I sat down, the queen took a long deep breath, opening her eyes to address myself alone. The quiet eerie space of this room combined with the low humming of the advanced A/C system set a new kind of tone I never would have recognized before now. Even without projecting her thoughts into telepathy or showing any in her body language, I somehow knew that the queen was far beyond angry and upset with me, so I dared not to speak out of term.


    "Lumina, leader of the Cy-Stars; you have been brought before me at this hour, because The Unity has found your recent actions in violation of numerous laws and interests established and designed for all Altiri aggressor groups. What you have done is irrefutable. What your sisters have done also warrants similar attention. Despite this, amidst the fear growing in you, I sense a stronger stability within your silent thought processes. Are you not concerned with the punishment I threaten to bring to you all?"


    Only now, after being asked a direct question was I expected to speak, and with the absence of all other Royal Scryers, I felt a bit more comfortable speaking with my great queen, this time as a person rather than a figure head. "Of course I am concerned, but I am not surprised, my great queen. Even if I do not agree that what I have done was wrong, it was still against the law, a law which I have clearly broken."


    "This is the paradox that digs into my comfort zone. I know you Lumina. I''ve known you for such a long time, since long before the Fall of Zinod. Your actions on August 11<sup>th</sup> have no logic behind them, but instead, a chaotic nexus of emotion which even your sisters cannot fully identity. Aside from our current misunderstanding, you appear to be locked in the will, that the illegal purge you have sent was worth doing again, if given a second chance under all the same circumstances, as if, you don''t feel all that bad about what you have done."


    "I won''t deny your assumption. I trust that I have made the right call."


    "I never expected in all my lifetime to see someone like you do something like this. All Altiri have a powerful hatred for heathens, and you alone carry this feeling so strongly. I have seen it burst from your soul in prior training sessions held in this temple. Lumina! Do you suddenly renounce your dedication to mark heathens as enemy of The Unity, to that which you swore in during your choice to remain in our defensive mission against such threats?"


    "I do not renounce my hatred, my great queen. Heathens still exist everywhere in the ACS system, and their presence will never be recognized as benevolent by The Unity, or by myself."


    "And what of your sisters? Do they believe sympathizing with heathens from another world is acceptable in the slightest?"


    Every one of us nodded our heads for no, adamantly refusing to ever harbor any positive feeling for our very enemy. I knew this was about to confuse the queen, but I held my tongue in patience, to highlight the core of my motivation before her. "Why then did Lumina decide to purge a male of the human race? Why did the rest of you fail to stand against a crazy idea, or to report what she had in mind?"


    If the queen really was listening to my conversation with Ethsia, then she should know already, but I won''t make this harder than it has to be. "Because, my great queen. I have been made aware, and am still convinced at this very moment, that the target of the person I have purged lacks any and all heathen influence and behavior, despite being a male. His traits are neither feminine nor masculine, and I waited years of observation to strengthen such confirmations."


    "Does this excuse align with the rest of you? Hurma? I will ask you, as I know deep down that your anger to our enemy shines brightly among us all."


    "I may only confirm, that Lumina spent total and exclusive focus in her observations of the subject, while the rest of us cycled between targets more regularly. I state no lies, my great queen. My sister Lumina became attached and obsessed with the very person she was to observe, and while we did stand against her decision in the beginning, I eventually chose to help her, because I realized Lumina would never be happy without the possibility of making contact with him."


    "And so, your purge was never about trying to influence or change the behavior of what you perceived to be an existing heathen, but rather a desperation to communicate with one you judged free from the clutches of Legasso''s predecessive behavior? I feel this is only a partial truth, that your attachment to Reed runs far deeper than any of you let on."


    "I... I just want to talk to him, to be there for him as a friend." Admitting this much to the queen was openly embarrassing, and I wasn''t entirely sure of my feelings in the first place, now that she put it out to question. However, despite my innocent sounding resolve, the queen finally let her rage show before us all.


    "Regardless of your reasons for treachery, you went behind our backs, defiled our rules and our trust, and did something that would greatly impact our entire history! You, Lumina, do not have any certainty that the man you speak of is really free from heathenism, just as Hurma attempted to warn you. Every aggressor group in the entire military now knows what you have done, the ability to cover this up already beyond my capability. So now, I have no choice but to make examples out of all of you. There are already preexisting punishments for those we brand as traitors of The Unity. Under these statements, you would be exiled from our military, stripped of all your ranking and privileges, and held in our prison district for the longest possible time, unable to rejoin society on Karnak. If I let you all go, it makes a statement to every other aggressor group out there, that breaking our trust so much is suddenly acceptable and okay, and I cannot allow that to happen in our own unity!"


    "I''m sorry, my great queen. I wish I could have done things the right way, but there was never a right way to purge my target."


    "Precisely." With her calm response, the rest of us gasped looking up at her, as the queen folded and held the ends of her arms, still furious, but with more to add. "I will never justify what you have done Lumina. However, I must concur that the very reason you broke our trust in the first place, was because you were convinced beyond all doubt, that had you gone through the proper means of securing permission to institute your purge, it would have outright been denied, where other aggressor groups in the past had been approved. You would not be wrong in your assumption, though this hardly affects the volley of your mistakes."


    "I understand."


    "Face me, Cy-Star leader!"


    Nervous as hell, I locked my worried eyes with my queen, wondering when she would quit stalling and move onto the verdict already, the wait and anticipation hurting more each second. "Yes, my great queen."


    The queen glared deeply into my eyes, using her ability to read my mind even though there was nothing loudly on it. I don''t know what she was looking for, but it appeared she found something anyway. "You claim to be apologetic for your crime, yet your eyes show more passion in you than I''ve ever seen before. Your priorities still shift in the same direction, and so I must ask... How much do you really care for this subject, who now carries an activated purge signal?"


    How much do I care? Is that really a question? "I care about Reed a great deal. To me, he might be the very reason and purpose behind my involvement with the human race, a reason that justifies what we have already done to their world indirectly. My aim is to help him."


    "And yet you carry with that goal immense risk that he will not help you. You state that Reed is not a heathen as you say, but if he is, he will reject your connection the moment he understands what is going on, and he will reject our influence as well."


    "That won''t happen my great queen. I trust in myself that I am right, that Reed is not like the others. There might even be more exceptions to the rule that I have yet to see." Even if I''m shaking, I''m not going to admit that he is a heathen, not until evidence to the contrary slaps me in the face.


    "Curious," the queen mumbled lowly. "It appears, whether I lock you in a cell or not, you will try to commune with your subject node and do all you can to bring him over to us?"


    "I will, for he is the person I chose for a purge, and I chose him for good reason."


    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    The room fell deadly silent for some time before the queen spoke again, after holding her mind in deep thought. "There are other reasons why we require permission to purge. It isn''t always about the gender of the target or subject. Am I safe to assume you already know this?"


    "I... I''m not sure about what those other reasons are." This is strange! Why isn''t she screaming at us like before? What is she going to do with us?


    "Most of this pertains to physiological and medical knowledge of the subject, gathered long in advance before approval is given. I shouldn''t have to remind you that many humans are prone to physical and psychological ailments which may complicate or even prevent a purge from completing on them. We, as Royal Scryers, examine the chosen subject prior to purge for this purpose, so that the aggressor group in question does not waste a perfectly good purge for no reason. However, another point of interest is the target''s general morality about the world around them. This typically has little bearing on our decision for approval, but it would most certainly impact everything if the same human carries views and opinions that lean on or favor heathenism. Given how the Earth is populated by so many, there are, and have been for some time, women which also present heathenism characteristics."


    Unable to ask why she was stalling, I could only involve myself in her curious conversation. "I, I know what you speak of. I too have seen innocent women become corrupted with violent views by the very heathens they involve themselves in. The fact that it spreads regardless of gender is abhorrent."


    "So it is. The additional consequences of your unscheduled purge also means we, as Royal Scryers, have absolutely zero data collected on your subject. We know not where he lives, what kind of life he endures, what habits he invokes, and what personality traits he subscribes to."


    "Do Royal Scryers keep their eyes on purged humans even after that purge is complete?"


    "Not normally, but in highly unique or irregular situations, our focus would be sustained on such a subject. The aggressor group attached to that subject would have no idea we are doing it, because of their lost clairvoyance given the purge, where we would always hold the capability. Before I continue to the verdict, I must request in very precise detail, the target identification data of the person you have chosen, beyond simply his name."


    "Yes, my great queen. My target node is Reed, and he lives on Motion Street, in a small town encased deep into the state of Georgia. He is thirteen years old at present, and in middle school. Our purge was conducted sometime between five and six A.M., on August 11<sup>th</sup>, 2009, as the date would read in their world. Dark hair, blue eyes, skinny for his size, and well reserved and quiet, as much as he is insightful of his surroundings."


    "Georgia? Isn''t that one of the warmer states to the south?"


    "It is. I purged Reed despite knowing the difficulty of the climate in the area, and am willing to put up with that as well."


    "Understood..." The queen sighed, adding one more digression before making her ruling. "You must realize by now, that there are consequences for all of us depending on what will happen between you and Reed. This is after all, the first time in all of history that a male human has ever been purged before, and this also means that, whether or not the purge cycle is successful, this male human will obtain our knowledge about the world we live in. He will have dreams about the Altiri, recognitions about the eye of The Unity, familiarity with the blizzards of our world, and understanding that our kind has a potent hatred for his kind."


    I wonder where she is going with this...


    "One of the required protocols we share between our agreements and aggressor groups involved in a purge, is that the human node be sworn to secrecy about our world. We have known for the longest time that drastic change and cultural challenge may arise on a grand, global scale within ACS414, if knowledge about our race of psionic observers reaches every corner of every intelligent human. I have personally wanted to keep this kind of interference to a minimum, and we have made great stride so far with minor setbacks. The triple purge incident nearly blew the lid of our secret to many, but instead only had the consequential transfer of our ancient music. It isn''t possible to ask a purged subject to remain quiet about what they learn in the first place, if they have no master node to guide and direct them. This means, if your purge fails in any manner, or if Reed refuses your involvement in his life, there is great threat that he will spread word about our culture, likely in short-sighted, inaccurate details, whether or not he himself believes the knowledge to be truthful or fiction."


    "I do see how that would be a negative consequence."


    "That is merely the beginning of our fears. If word about our existence and our purge experiment got out to the entire human race, there is no end to the possibility for what may come of it. More importantly, if word about us ever was to spread, it should do so with utmost accuracy and understanding from which it echoes. If instead, a heathen, enemy of our unity were to learn of our truth more exclusively than the world around him, with knowledge that we are his enemy, our entire impact to this world will be dragged into negative and aggressive resistance, assuming that heathen wishes to challenge us, which is likely. Consequently, if our discovery is then made aware to the world carrying the negative weight of hatred against us, then our involvement through purging will be seen as an unwanted, aggressive, and intrusive action. In either case, hostile reactions to our discovery can lead to epic damages within the societies of this fragile planet, and drive Altiri morale below levels rarely seen before. Do you understand from this, why I add caution to your involvement with Reed, disregarding what is already known? If you turn out to be wrong, or if your purge fails, and Reed presents himself to be the heathen we think we know him to be, then your own actions will inflict an unknown but certain damage to our reputation within that world, if Reed does decide to share the visions we carry, unloading within his mind. The purge will warp his personality during the process, holding his adhesion and opinion of us highly, until the purge completes or fails, reverting his personality back to how it was, with knowledge of us learned."


    It was a long mouthful, but I knew now why the queen wanted to tell me this before administering punishment. She wishes me to see the additional vectors of what could go wrong in this purge, so that I understand what more there is at stake, though all I still care about is being Reed''s friend, rather than his enemy. "I see now, that my actions have consequences for all of us, not limited to only myself and my sisters. I don''t know what else to say, because this will all depend on whether Reed accepts my presence or not."


    "My thoughts exactly. Your progress of the purge, especially once the process completes, is now more important and highly integral to our continued operations. There still remains the chance - that Reed can be swayed to our way of thinking, brought to our side of The Unity, and to be turned from potential enemy into a great ally who understands our purpose and our resolve. I don''t think so myself, but it may be possible for you to prevent Reed from being influenced by the negativity and evil around him, and if this is possible, I must at least allow this route of time to play out. I have already made my decision for all of you. Rise now, so that you may bear the burden of thy judgment."


    Without resistance, all of us stood on our feet, tall and facing our doom with the bravest of stance, before the queen finally made her ruling.


    "If this situation were simple, I''d personally torture the eleven of you myself, hold public displays of your shortcomings, and diminish all you are to nothingness, to never deliver you an ounce of freedom ever again. However, the complexity of this situation requires more flexibility. It is my decree, that each and every member of the Cy-Stars aggressor group, will now be bound to delayed punishment, of timing and details entirely dependent on whether or not Lumina can get Reed to declare The Unity as his ally and fall under our allegiance."


    "What?" "Is she saying¡ª" My sisters and I both went into a bit of shock, wondering if we misheard our great queen. "Are you saying, we''re not going to be punished for this?"


    "Not quite. You should all silence your minds and listen to me well. I said, your punishment will be conditional, based on the total success of your purge, which will have to be judged in incremental progress after the successful completion of the purge. The punishment that Ethsia suggested you all receive, shall be brought down before all of you, if, by any means, Reed fails to at least judge The Unity in a positive regard. This means many things. If the purge fails or Reed rejects continued communication with Lumina, this will count as an automatic failure to satisfy my conditions. If Reed, regardless of purge success, is later determined to host many heathen qualities and traits within him, then the punishment shall be administered, and Lumina will bear greater weight and torture for her error in judgment. If Reed does accept Lumina''s communication, does believe that this world is real, does refrain from heathen influences, yet still falls short of having an opinion of us that is at least above neutral, then I shall still personally count this as condition for punishment, perhaps with reduced severity as we discuss them later."


    "I see," Hurma realized aloud. "So, you''re sending us back to our ships, but our time to pay will eventually come."


    "There is only one basis of possibility that will enable me to pardon your entire team for what you have done, and know that I will never offer this to any other aggressor group who takes repeated action of you. Lumina? Reed is your purged subject. You claim to know him well. You claim he is a rare exception, a man who is not a heathen of his own world, and a man who will see yourself and those you represent as allies rather than enemies. While your assumptions may be based on blind faith, the truth is, our future is always uncertain and unknowable. So, I am giving you this one chance to prove yourself, to prove that you personally made a call that was right for you and your team. You must convince Reed that we Altiri are no direct threat to the human world, and that any influence of heathenism should be seen as evil, as it is seen this way in our world. Whether he believes our world exists or not may not actually bring any bearing on this condition, but keep in mind, a human who believes they have gone insane is likely to reject your continued communications. I will give as much additional time following the purge as needed, but not too much time. If you can show me, convince me, with Reed right here before us, that he is the person you trust him to be, then I will not levy any further consequence or punishment to your or your team. The Cy-Stars however, will fall far from its current ranking as the top position, though this is hardly something I feel any of us will care about in extra detail."


    I was breathless, unable to comprehend how or why I was given this ultimatum. The queen, taking pity on me? After all of this, she''s going to simply give us a slap on the wrist and let us go?


    "Are these terms acceptable to you, Lumina?" The queen had to wait for my answer, since I was still bewildered and slow to process anything given this way out of a horrible future.


    "They are, and thank you so much for giving me this chance, my great queen! I''m sorry I went this far to purge him! I¡ª"


    The queen cut me off with her hand motion, certain as I that I would go as far to kiss her feet for her conditional pardon. "Focus, Lumina! Do not assert so soon that you have been given back your full freedom. As I said before, turning Reed''s allegiance to our side is going to be impossible. It would prove that not every single male of the human race are heathens, and since that is something we know is not true, I very much doubt you can pull it off. However, I must give you this chance for two reasons. One is to give you the opportunity to learn firsthand and personally just how cruel humans can be, compared to how we want to see them. The other reason, is that I wish to prevent this situation from going out of control. As important as it is to make examples out of all of you, it is even more important that we ensure our enemy from the other side of the universe, does not gauge us as their enemy, less it may lead to no future purges for anybody. Once again Lumina, you will do anything it takes to brainwash Reed into believing we are his ally."


    "Uh, hold on. I won''t do that!"


    "Lumina! Don''t squander the chance we''ve been given!" Ashiela wasn''t about to fight the queen on her ruling, but I knew I was going to have to elaborate what I meant.


    "What I mean is, I won''t resort to deceptive tactics, lies, or brainwashing to get Reed on our side. In fact, I''m not even going to assert a focus on his indoctrination. I''m only doing this because I want to be there for him, and for him to know we are there for him. If Reed recognizes that I''m willing to help him, and that I will never trick him or lie to him about our world, I''m certain he will still chose to support us of his own volition."


    "The tactics used to turn Reed into someone I deem worthy of, is entirely up to you, Lumina. However, you should consider my advice greatly. Heathens don''t listen to reason, nor do they see the good in others through kindness. They only look at people to exploit and use. Your method will fail, if Reed is a heathen, even if in the slightest amount."


    "I don''t believe you." Despite the strong yet silent protest of my sisters behind me, I stood taller, holding my gaze to the queen''s face, and she held her rivaling eyes to mine. "I won''t lie to him about anything. I won''t try to trick Reed or deceive him. If he is to see us as allies, he must make that choice on his own with everything known, including my own intentions. For that reason, I shall refrain from telling him about the deal you and I currently have, to prevent using coercion through sympathy as well."


    Junko tried to protest first. "Don''t make this more difficult on yourself Lumina. Why does it matter so much to you that every thought and choice he has is based entirely on his own?"


    "Because Junko," I informed with much resolve. "I want my connection with Reed to be as genuine as possible. It''s what he would want too. Reed looks to the world around him, struggling for friends, but refusing anything that seems shallow or fake. I understand that feeling more than you might realize, and I am not going to fail this way."


    "Very well," the queen agreed skeptically. "We shall see what those passions of yours are made of, Lumina. The choice has been made. For now, all of you shall return to your ships, station yourself to corral position, and passively wait for the purge to complete. We have brought your docked ships into our hangar at the temple during your brief imprisonment. In the meantime, I will do all I can to ensure none of the other aggressor groups tries to communicate with you or bother you. Now more than ever, our communication ban will have to be strictly enforced. I will of course make exceptions for you, the Stryders, and Radion, so long as you keep it calm and quiet looking."


    "My queen," Luna intercepted. "What about the other Royal Scryers? None of them are even in the room to hear your decision. Will they not protest to your judgment once they are aware of this?"


    "They shall," the queen answered with clarity. "The very reason I had all other personnel removed from my throne room, was to isolate their predictable protests between them and myself. The Royal Scryers will be angered by this decision greatly, but it is not their place to rule on this matter. I make the verdict and enforce the rules on incidents as large as this. So, they will protest, but I will educate them on the importance of all they have failed to foresee. Our entire future involvement with the human race may now be in jeopardy, if Reed becomes a publicly declared enemy of The Unity, and I will do all I can so that this does not happen."


    "What of the other aggressor groups, who will undoubtingly question their perception of our freedom?"


    Answering to Derria, the queen solidified her plan of action. "There will have to be an announcement, perhaps made through intentional rumor, that the punishment to be administered to the offending aggressor group will be certain, but delayed for up to a few years, pending additional investigations. Trying to downplay your wrongdoing will be difficult though, even for me, unless of course you fail in the task I deliver."


    Words cannot express how relieved I am that the queen is cutting us so much slack. I thought for sure we would all never see beyond the temple walls ever again. "My great queen, I will not fail us. I can''t thank you enough for giving me the chance to prove myself, and I will make certain my purge was never in vain."


    "For the sake of yourself, and our futures linked, I hope that is a truth you will carry out to the fullest extent of your potential, Lumina. As for the rest of you, it is wise to assist Lumina where possible if she needs help or support. I am not allowing the Cy-Stars aggressor group to be disbanded, until this matter comes to a close. All of you are now dismissed. Please leave us with care in your mind."


    "Very well. We will all make you proud!" I couldn''t hide the building excitement within me. Most of what I felt was in my confidence restored, that I may get to talk to Reed after all, and that my purge would be absolutely worth every moment. Even I had not expected the many surprises life had to throw in my way.


    It was impossible to relax though. I have been given a mission by the queen, which closely ties in with my personal interests. There is still the chance that I fail, though I must maintain my confidence and patience for what must be done. For now, all I can do is wait.

 Chapter 016: The Blind Wait

    <hr>


    <10/15/149,565 {Avion 148} - 17:32 | Corral Position, Genosis, Altiri Sector Space>


    <Karnak to ACS414 Date Equivalent: 10/15/2009>


    As an Altiri who purged a human without permission, I knew my roles ahead would be difficult for me to face. One of the difficulties I had not expected to shatter my peaceful mind pierced into me like a thorn, and there was no removing this bother. A promise to wait is easy from my lips, yet impossible from my heart.


    "Constantly staring off into space isn''t going to help make this go any faster." Talor, who had been enjoying the choice I made, reached out to me, becoming my voice of reason after I had thrown much of it aside.


    I merely repeated my intentions to my sister, after waiting for so long, stuck in a nervous, never-ending anticipation of what might come of our entire group. "My thoughts are with purpose Talor. Even if all I can do is wait for the purge to complete itself, there is still much to prepare for when it does. I am, as humans often put it, daydreaming about the moment, to simulate a best course of action."


    "Admit it," Junko began to imply. "You can''t get your mind off him because you have such strong feelings to him, maybe something beyond a want for friendship?"


    "What?" Trying not to sound caught off guard by Junko''s question, I was forced to consider the impossibility while Hurma lifted her voice on the matter, assuming it could never be so.


    "Stop messing around Junko. It''s already bad enough that we had to purge Reed for Lumina''s emotional attachments, but do not insinuate that she is actually falling in love with the subject. Lumina isn''t that stupid, right?"


    She was addressing the reassuring question to me, though I took a bit longer to respond than I wanted to, lost in a web of confusing thoughts I wanted to ignore. I never once assumed I was in love with Reed, but the way I feel about him so strongly, I can''t deny how important he is to me. I have to be sure, because if I am romantically motivated to reach him, I may jeopardize all I must do before I am aware of it.


    It''s a difficult concept to think about, whether or not I feel that way about someone. It isn''t something I can just confirm or deny at the drop of a hat. However, if I know Hurma, the tiny possibility of such would send her over the edge again. "Don''t worry everyone. I know what I''m doing. Junko? It wouldn''t stop me from doing what must be done if I did harbor such feelings for Reed. However, you should know that this isn''t the current reality. I want to help Reed, to be there for him, not to flirt with him."


    While all of my sisters were listening to our conversation, Rose added her opinion to the declaration I''ve made. "This is relieving for me to hear as well. Whether we would be concerned with the possibility or not, humans tend to make large messes of relationships. On top of that, they have a tendency to make a very big deal regarding age differences. This alone may lock you out of the ability to chase that desire."


    "I love Reed, but I''m not in love with Reed. I agree with Rose. I want to avoid making any mistakes that I can here. When the purge does finally finish and I can connect with him, I have to be ready. I think the only way I can get through to him is to prove I am here to help him."


    I wasn''t willing to believe everyone would just leave it at that, and Hurma proved my doubts certain. "There is another way to get him on our side, methods that the queen herself suggested you use."


    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    "I won''t stoop to those methods of deceit!" How many times must I make it clear to Hurma that I refuse to be disingenuous to the person I want to help most? "I''m going to help Reed with whatever he wants help with, even if he doesn''t initially believe that I exist. I know none of you understand why I''m doing this, or why this is so important to me, but I need all of you to at least trust me."


    "I do trust you Lumina, even if I still think this was all a mistake made from your confusing emotions." Hurma''s usual rage seemed absent as she spoke, docile in ways I rarely ever sense. "I wouldn''t have joined your purge if I didn''t trust and have faith in you. We are sisters after all."


    "Since we''re all on the subject," Derria interjected, "I must wonder how long it will take this purge to finish. The queen gave us a time limit of 780 days regarding total purge time. Everyone knows the longest a purge has ever taken was about two years. I wonder what Reed is up to now, as we can no longer see him, but I also worry that the heat of Georgia may impede the progress of the purge, indefinitely."


    It was more than a valid concern, but one I chose to ignore entirely. "Derria? I knew what the probability of success was before I even made my choice. I need not the reminder of factors which could go wrong, especially the factors outside of our control. If there is nothing we can do to improve our chances, then I will not worry about the cause of the problem in the first place. Such stress does us no good."


    "Fine, forget I said anything."


    Oh Derria, please don''t pout over our delicate situation. "I mean you no dismissal Derria. I simply cannot fit any more concern into my mind during this long wait. I wish to distract myself instead - from the stress of it all."


    "I''m just having second thoughts is all. I know that we cannot undo the purge that we sent. But Lumina? I don''t want to spend the rest of eternity in one of those prisons. I still can''t forget about our queen''s wrath. Even though she gave us a new chance, I could tell her anger was to targeted on all of us, and that she wasn''t kidding about the conditions of our punishment should this purge fail."


    "You are allowed to feel this way Derria." I feel bad, having doomed all of my sisters right beside me. It was necessary to ask for their assistance in order to send this purge, but sending the purge was my decision. "I think, if everything goes downhill, and you explain to the queen what you just explained to me, she might limit the effects of the punishment only onto me, for all of you."


    "But Lumina, you shouldn''t¡ª"


    "I am not giving up without a fight!" I so sternly rectified Junko''s sympathetic concern, hers and the others. "I didn''t say any of you had to avoid the wrath of The Unity, only that I would never think less of you if you did try. However, I''m pushing those thoughts aside, because I have faith in all of us, faith in this purge, and faith in Reed. Our successful purge is now the only thing left to decide our futures."


    "If I had to guess, you''re still more concerned with helping Reed than you are fearful of failure-driven demise?"


    "I am, Ashiela. I still can''t stop thinking about it, about the amount of involvement and change we have already implemented into their world. Small as it may seem to us now, that change will ripple through time. Someday, the Altiri will cease looking at human purge candidates as telepathic nodes, and begin seeing them as disciples of The Unity. Don''t you get it? I want to be somebody to Reed, somebody worthy of his high opinions and praise, and I cannot cheat in order to raise his opinion of The Unity. He isn''t that stupid, and I''m not that horrible."


    "Then it sounds like you are already prepared to give this all you got." Fionne knew just how important this was to all of us, and she has long since set aside her doubts in favor of giving me hope. "Just remember. When the purge cycle is complete and that first link is established, the very first day you spend with Reed will become the most important day. You must convince him that contacting you after the first connection ends is paramount, and also teach him how to invoke the same power."


    "Reed will know how to invoke this power already, from result of the purge. The trick is, he has to want another connection with me badly enough to make it happen, the willpower and determined emotions fuel for such psionic energy." I knew what I had to do, at least that''s what it felt like for now. It isn''t going to be easy; I know this... I''m still not giving up.


    Despite all I''ve said, I could tell there was so much more on their minds, thoughts of worry, anxiety of the unknowns. What we Cy-Stars have done will have consequences down the line, one way or another, which shall ripple out through time for all of us. Not everyone knows what to do or how they are supposed to move past their current problems. It''s partially this reason everyone has felt so distant lately, and I can only feel fully responsible for all of it.


    "Would you then like to have another gathering, to take our minds off this heavy matter?"


    With the weight of everything, there was no way I was denying Luna''s offer. "I would love to have a gathering. Junko and I shall prepare our teleporters and recalibrate the AGCR for your arrival."


    While I prepared to leave my ship to Junko and board Luna''s area, I still had too much to workout in my mind, the web of thoughts and fears clawing at every moment, making the air so hard to breathe. I had to ponder whether a slumber party with Luna and some of the others would really make us feel better, but only time would tell.

 Chapter 017: 466 Days

    <hr>


    <08/30/149,566 {Avion 148} - 18:07 | Orbital Sector Zf41E512, Genosis, Altiri Sector Space>


    <Karnak to ACS414 Date Equivalent: 08/30/2010>


    Proving the villain of all my expectation, this purge we were waiting on was taking longer than ordinary, enough to make us nervous, enough to force us to consider the impossible before due time. Some of my sisters have already forsaken me in silence, assuming the worst given the timing of it all, leaving me to despair.


    The queen gave us an official time limit of 780 days, or (3,120 cycles our time), for the purge to enter completion in order to be considered successful, separate from the other condition that Reed''s allegiance be brought to The Unity with a variable time limit. We still have some time before our end, however, there is another issue more obvious to the eleven of us. Due to the regional location of our target, and the time already elapsed, there is a strong possibility that Reed''s very own purge has failed by now. Unfortunately, if a person under the influence of a purge stays in a warm area for a prolonged period of time (a few months give or take), then that purge signal will eventually wane and die out, instead of moving to its completion phase, and all without a direct way for us Altiri to know about it if it does happen. It has happened before, and it can happen here as well.


    For all I know, due to the long summers of Georgia, Reed''s purge may have already quit and dialed down to nothing. Just thinking of the possibility made me sick in ways I didn''t think possible, the prospect unimaginable, the threat to my heart breaking. I''ve been doing all I could to keep my mind way from the negative outcome I could not control, as nothing is yet to be proven. Some of my sisters have already given their estimations, and have distanced themselves from me a bit as a result.


    In order to cheer all of us up, I requested to join an invitation sent to us by one of my best friends, Sierra of the Stryders, with the queen''s preliminary permission that our groups may remain in contact for the time being. Like many times before, me and many others used the teleporters at the specific coordinates to board Sierra''s starship in her well-decorated main room of ice and sculpture, so cool and inviting. Sierra had most of her own sisters there with her too, the gathering maximized so that most of us could speak freely and directly to each other.


    I wasn''t too sure what we would talk about this time, but I held such hopes it would make us all feel better about this, in some way. I know Sierra has been waiting impatiently for this gathering for a long time now, wanting to catch up after all of the chaos we''ve caused in the last year. For us Cy-Stars, not much has changed; we''ve simply been waiting and waiting for this purge to finish if ever it does. For everyone else, it''s all been about the big talk of the news and rumor, that my sisters and I did something impossibly illegal by purging a heathen. No living Altiri will ever let us live it down, as we are forever tainted with this figurative mark, some looking at us as mistakes, while others see us as direct traitors to The Unity.


    "It''s been too long Lumina. Please sit with us." Sierra seemed to be the one of the few exceptions in our judgment. She never hated us for what we did, and never once got upset with me with the decision I made. Her only emotion when she learned what happened was of genuine concern and care, as it was now.


    So I sat with her, Sierra and many of her sisters clustered into one large circle sitting on the cold steel floor, as if were about to enact some sort of ritual. The sisters I brought with me joined us, sitting around or behind me, passively quiet until they would feel the need to speak.


    "It''s always a pleasure to join you in a get-together. I only wish most of us could be calmer, myself included."


    "I don''t know what I will be able to promise given all that has transpired. I do hope this experience will make all of us more rational in the future." Sierra and I kept to a pleasant dialogue at first, but I knew it was only a short matter before she would cut through any hesitation to learn directly what I''ve really been through.


    I as I inhaled loud and deep, I tried to relax as I unveiled my current concern of chaos. "I may not led by the best example of rationality, not anymore at least. Despite what everyone will tell me, I wonder if my own sisters will one day vote to remove me as leader of the Cy-Stars, assuming the worst does not come to pass."


    "I wanted to confirm my suspicions though," Sierra offered. "For a long time, I''ve been hearing repeated rumor about you and your team, rumor that ensures without any doubt that the Cy-Stars will face punishment for their actions, all in due time. Some of the aggressor groups don''t even understand the meaning behind the delay, but others including myself quickly pieced together the reason why the queen would have delayed such a thing for you... But, I can''t trust rumors anymore. Lumina? I must hear it directly from you, you or any one of your sisters."


    Sherika then spoke before I could, announcing her presence and willingness to invite her speech into this moment. "Your assumption is valid either way, Sierra. The rumors are somewhat misleading in some regards, but ultimately speaking, our shared punishment is inevitable, delayed only to concentrate an effect of effort on this specific purge, to limit the sociological damage to the human race."


    "I knew that must have been the reason. The queen must be trying to control every point of this situation, even the very person Lumina chose for her purge."


    "I won''t let her go that far," I decreed with passion. "The queen wants to bring Reed''s state of influence and ethic attractions to align with that of The Unity, and quite frankly, so do I. This doesn''t mean I''m going to use the same methods to make it happen. My reasons for purging Reed are not in alignment with the queen or the Royal Scryers, as they never were for any other aggressor group."


    Derria reminded everyone about something she wasn''t technically supposed to say to anyone outside our group, though I saw it coming miles way, willingly allowing her to raise our awareness. "We actually do have a slim chance to escape such harsh punishment indefinitely, as a singular, one-time favor between our group the our past services to The Unity. If the purge succeeds, and Lumina''s promises and wishes come true, then the queen may forgive our actions, so long as Reed proves not to be a heathen in the end. I must however emphasize that the collective possibility of this outcome is too low for my comforts."


    "As I sated before," Sierra paraphrased, "evidence that the incident was made as an irrational decision of feeling and emotions, void of logic and consideration."


    "Don''t start that. I considered every little factor in what I''ve done, in what I''ve asked my sisters to do. I had to convince all of them to help me in the purge, never coercing or forcing them to take part."


    "Do you really think they feel the same way?" Sierra''s question quaked every nerve within me for a nano-second, reshaping a feeling I thought I had thrown away, the sense I felt in some of the others. "My abilities have grown as well, and I can tell that, while faint, some of your sisters are gravely regretting the choice they made in helping you, even though I know they would vocally argue they would always follow your lead."


    "Sierra, I¡ª"


    "Your choice to involve all of them has removed their abilities permanently so. Even if any of them leave the Cy-Stars and join another group, or even if a change in leadership occurs, they no longer have their chance to purge their own favored human subject, nor do they even have the ability to see that other world anymore. Their sacrifice and willingness to help you now rides entirely on the success of your purge, driven by your desires to help this individual."


    "We all knew the risks Sierra..." No matter how I tried to affirm it though, I couldn''t shake the fierceness of tone from my mind. I didn''t want her to be right. I didn''t want this to be true, that it could even be possible for anyone to hate me.


    "Whether or not this was something you can live with is totally on you. I just think, you should know that some level of selfishness was involved here; a selfishness that is unfortunately required for a leader to send a purge. As long as you understand the coming pain your sisters will feel, I''ll leave it at that."


    "Sierra..." I couldn''t look her in the eyes anymore, too ashamed of the constant and eternal reminder of what we''ve lost, and all for nothing presently to show for it. Losing my own abilities was one horrible thing, but I truly am responsible for the loss of abilities in my sisters as well, and that is something nobody can change, no matter how much time passes.


    "I love you Lumina, as your friend. I''m not trying to get under your skin. I just want you to be aware of the reasons why this is such a complicated moment for all of us. I don''t want to see any of you suffer, or any of you be punished by the queen and her scryers."


    "What do you want then, Sierra?" Our heads turned, myself included to the source of her dismay, Talor, standing up for me even though we''ve all been divided on our judgment of the depths. "I get that you want Lumina to be hyper-aware of every detail about us, as she should, but surely you did not invite all of us out here just to make her feel worse. I don''t like it any more than you do, but the constant waiting period of this purge already has most of us stressed out."


    "Taylor, I would never wish to make anything worse. I am sorry that you and Lumina are becoming anxious by the wait." Sierra then shifted her eyes between the both of us, looking so intensely as though she saw something beautiful. "I just really wanted to talk to all of you, all of you, together. I understand that you''re not all unified like you used to be, but all of you are still sisters until the very end, okay?"


    "Fine. I''ll try a little harder to stay optimistic about this, even if it kills me." Hurma sure didn''t sound as relieved as she sounded, and we knew Ashiela and Fionne were of the same mind, but if all of them heard that just now, then they should be okay.


    "You sure do have your ways of trying to make everybody feel better."


    "It''s because I care. I''m also very curious about the specifics of your purge. I want to learn so much from you, like for instance, why you chose this specific individual for a purge, and even why you chose to purge anybody at all."


    Leanne nearly jumped up in protest to her leader''s request. "Sierra! We can''t ask her that! It''s forbidden for other aggressor groups to know specific personal details about humans who were purged by other groups." Leanne might have sounded desperate to remind us, but she wasn''t wrong. Besides the number one law which was recently broken, the next important rule enforced pertains to this rule, and is the sole reason behind the continued policies which enact the telepathic communication ban. Aggressor groups are not allowed to know which aggressor group is even involved in a purge, with very few exceptions, and not allowed to know the specific human who has been purged, no exceptions.


    However, our situation is anything but normal, and I needed simply remind Leanne. "Don''t worry about it. Almost every aggressor group knows already that the Cy-Stars are involved in a purge, and I''m sure many possibly know tiny unidentifiable details about Reed already, enough to know he is a guy. As far as you few go, I wouldn''t mind talking about Reed. I think it would only make me feel better."


    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    "You see Leanne? We all trust each other. I would never allow for anyone to maliciously use any of that information. We''ll act as shields for those who wish to pry, as we already have."


    "Already have?" Lulu didn''t mean to blurt her reaction, though it was something mysterious to me as well.


    "Don''t be naive my friends. Ever since you sent that purge out, many aggressor groups have been trying to resort to combining clairvoyance and telepathy, to try and learn more about the specific identity of all of you, including the man you purged. Some have even directly tried to ask us and other aggressor groups to share what we all know, even if insignificant."


    "But they can''t do that! They''re not allowed to!" Fionne''s defiant chant was something we all felt, and it was crazy to think this had been happening for so long a time. How many times has Sierra and Blissera had to cover details up to keep ourselves safe a little longer?


    Of course, Sierra had an answer for this as well. "Maybe your recent defiance has inspired others to ignore the rules as well. The queen can easily enforce and enact her communication ban in situations like these, except when it happens so often that too many are involved. I mean, her Royal Scryers cannot surely punish the entire military at once. It isn''t as easy when something goes as wide spread as this. Luckily however, that situation is calming down as time goes on. I''m sure many have their eye on you though Lumina, using clairvoyance, which to any and all of us is an invisible ability. Just be careful. That''s all I can give you in advice or now."


    Tabitha turned to Sierra after side-glancing me, speaking aloud to bring her back to the original topic. "Since she''s allowing us to hear about her subject, I too would like to know who this Reed person is like. Maybe the answer to that leads into the reason why Lumina acted the way she did."


    "I''m standing right here you know."


    "So you are... Will you share this with us?"


    "I guess... I just can''t be sure where to start."


    "Oh, I have one place we can start." Sierra thought back, far back to a time so fresh in her memory, yet more confusing now than ever. "I won''t ask why, whether I get it or not. I just want to point out how different everything is now, compared to before."


    "Before?" I mysterious asked, having no direct link to her memories.


    "There was a time when you and your sisters were on this ship, like how we are now, when we first discovered ACS414. Back then, we had yet to learn about the heathen dominance of that world, but it doesn''t change how obsessed and certain you were about ensuring none of our influence would ever touch or reach that planet. Yet now, you stand before me today, preaching the opposite, practicing the reversal for what you used to stand for."


    <hr>


    Chapter Theme Shift: Night Flight ~ VPG (Wind of Spring)</a>


    <hr>


    I remember this clearly too. Even though it wasn''t all that long ago, so much had changed after that point, it really felt like a near eternity. "I know..." My breath attributed to the moment was so soft, as I felt the mourn and loss of who I used to be, of how I used to think. Part of me wondered if I was right to have changed how I felt after all this time, and thinking so far back to the moment split my perception between time, to be in two places at once, seeing two versions of myself.


    I no longer understand why I opposed our interference in the first place, only that I felt so strongly about it, as did many nearby aggressor groups. We discovered this alien world, and felt that a single purge to a single human would violate our own sanctity within The Unity, and as individuals; that the very idea of interference was morally unjustifiable, being an action which could never be undone. Perhaps it was a fear of an ultimate power being dangled before me, the power to inadvertently and indirectly cause alterations to an entire world or society. Whether the humans would become aware of us or not, doing anything which alters their futures as individuals or as a collective is something we never had the power to invoke before, so we failed to ask those questions before our eyes made the discovery of a candidate. I saw any experimentation on that world as an abomination of aggressive curiosity, headed from the same Royal Scryers who command us.


    I remember how hard I fought Sierra on the matter, as the two of us argued over the rights to interfere in the first place. Sierra took the path of involvement merely due to a sense that the no-contact policy would be inevitably removed one day, and it turns out she was right, not that I could have known back then.


    However, as time went on, all of us kept our eyes into that world for far too long, succumbing to our thirst for interstellar cultural knowledge, captivated by the unique emotions and life styles of those beautiful aliens, held prisoner by our returning curiosity, our addiction molded through our hearts. We all wanted to learn more; I wanted to know more about the people there. So, when the purge experiment began, with mild dismay, I ignored how much it should have bothered me, falling into the same trap many have before, despite wanting to remain uninvolved through any action my by hand or my psionic vessel.


    What I learned beyond my past expectations, was that the depths of any soul, human or Altiri stretch far beyond our understanding, and expand beyond boundaries of our worlds, separate yet shared. In time, I found familiarity within some of the subjects I watched. I managed to match my emotions and energy with theirs, my hunger for connection to their hidden gems growing. There were times even before Reed where I wanted to reach out, to intentional interfere with their lives, so that I may save them from momentary grief and pain, or to help them understand something I knew that they didn''t. Little by little, year by year, I''ve felt this need to become more involved in their lives growing, my desperation to make a worthy difference evolving.


    Even now do I lack a full understanding of the reasons I feel this way now, and it was much harder trying to put it into words anybody could understand, and I stood up before everyone to try. "I''ve come to realize, that our very involvement in their world doesn''t actually make things better or worse, collectively speaking. Fate has a funny way of keeping everything so random, that luck can go good or bad no matter the situation or the actions we make from them. Individually however, the same rules do not apply. One person cannot change the world, but one person can affect the life of another specific friend. Nothing is direct about that world. There are times where, people who are suffering immeasurable pain can be helped, and all it takes is for someone, anyone ¨C to get involved in their life, even if the best they do is being there for them."


    I took another breath before I continued, sensing everyone watching me with awe, even Junko and Derria, who must not have realized how I saw this world until now. "The humans of the Earth are always hurting, the good and the bad. They often grow because of their adversities, but some of those girls just aren''t strong enough to do it all alone, even though some are forced to, when their families are lost or abandon them, when their friends turn out to have only selfish interest. I can''t personally explain to you how I''m able to sense what they feel without direct connection; I just do, and it makes me so desperate to reach out and help them any way I can."


    "Hold on," Emily interrupted. "Sensing the emotions of others without telepathy isn''t possible like that. I mean, you''re talking about that rumored power of clairsentience. No Altiri has that ability, and even if they did, it would never be something they could combine with advanced clairvoyance."


    "You''re half right about that one." Junko didn''t like the deviation from where I was going, but she soon enough resolved any bit of skepticism anyone had about my claim. "Lumina doesn''t possess clairsentience, but she is insightful about other people''s emotions. Her accuracy in doing so without any special links is true as it is unprecedented. Though it is an observation skill few of us have, I have personally confirmed that she is capable of this on a regular, which I think is also the reason she becomes more attached to these subjects than the rest of us have, historically speaking at least."


    I didn''t object to a single claim she said, as all of this was true. "I don''t think you know how it feels, to fully understand what someone is going through while they experience a personalized hell they can''t escape from. People there suffer so much, and lately, the theme of their suffering comes from a loneliness more crushing and isolating than anything I''ve ever felt, even for myself." I began to stutter and slow down, unaware of the mess I was making with tears streaming down my face. In simply speaking the reminder of what I''ve observed over so much time, this revived the epitome of all sadness I wished to erase.


    To my own awe, everyone else became caught up in the same sensation, awestruck and speechless as I broadcast every emotion from my heart through my mind, through all of us, where even Hurma and the others could immerse themselves into this reason. Silent seconds passed before Sierra tried to understand us again. "I can''t believe it. I mean, I know exactly what that feels like Lumina. Even so, I never acted on this when I had the chance to. Then again, I don''t think I''ve ever felt as strongly about it as you have... What the hell have you seen through the darkness of humanity?"


    More than I wish to share, Sierra, more than I wish to share with anyone. I keep those dark thoughts to myself, shielded even from my sisters to save all grief. The amount of times and different ways I''ve seen people hurt others, be it from violence led by heathens and evil, or by inescapable circumstances combined with a lack of nurture from those around them, I have seen so much sadness, so much rage, so much insanity... No woman can look upon a world of darkness for so long, and come out with their own sanity fully intact.


    What hurt me the most, was watching those in similar or understandable situations like my own. I watched some whose parents were ripped away from them by the mortality of humans and the cruel randomness that dominates the universe. I watched others have their heart and soul crushed by their desire for human connection and understanding, betrayed by the people they trust the most. I try not to focus more on the negative than I do everything else, but when things are going well for someone, there isn''t really a need to look at them or interact with them, because, if everything is okay, what action is there to be had? Maybe that mentality itself is a fallacy. It''s never changed how much I wished I could help some of those people.


    Even within my own sadness, I unleashed all I felt into what words I knew. "I just wish I could help all of them. I want to be there for the people who need our attention, who need our involvement into their lives! Even if all I can do is save and help only one, I''d rather help one person than to turn my back on their world, to leave them alone to their fate. But the queen and her scryers put so many barriers for us to even try, while some of them look at humans like lab rats."


    "Lumina..."


    "The Unity is more than a thousand collection of clairvoyant eyes Sierra! The Unity has heart for those who open their own... Why can''t I be allowed to help Reed who also suffers, who clings to his personality before the influence of others? I just..." Unable to stand any longer, I let myself sink with the weight of my tears, as Sierra tried to comfort me, holding my shoulders with a sincere gaze she''s never shown me before. "I just want to help him. I want to be there for him, so that when he falls, I''ll be there with him, willing to take him back up. I know enough about Reed in how he thinks. He doesn''t show it, but I can feel everything from within, and he''s far more sensitive than the average person."


    I could hear some of their silent and suppressed thoughts through leaked emotion, that some of Sierra''s sisters were still asking themselves if all of this was really true, since it is impossibly rare in anyone''s perspective that a single male human can be classified as a non-heathen. They didn''t vocalize their thoughts though, as they were instead shocked by the complex symphonies in heart I''ve cried, including Sierra and Hurma.


    Sierra patted my shoulders, and though nobody else seemed to move from where they sat, the sympathy and shame in their faces was more than telling of a previous misunderstanding. "I''m sorry Lumina. I had no idea you felt this way for anyone... But I can understand now why you had to send that purge." Sierra knew by now why this had to happen eventually, that by exposing myself to the immense vulnerabilities within the hearts of others, for each and every pain endured, my own heart cracked little by little, crumbling what was left of my past beliefs, removing all of my learned inhibitions. Indeed, though nobody warned us about the possibility before, there is a price to be paid for clairvoyance alone, when we watch the life of another, allowing their experiences to affect ours.


    "Tell me Lumina..." Sierra held her eyes closed, gently leaning her forehead on mine while holding both my hands clasped. "Are you in love with this human? I promise I would never be upset with you if you were."


    It took me too long to answer her, for I wanted to be in her embrace for far longer. Still, I had to deliver her honesty as I''ve come to know it. "I''m not in love with Reed, but I do love Reed, for all that he thinks, for all that he feels, for who he is as a person. My feelings have become mixed up and confused, but I am certain I do care about him, something that has not changed. I have to have faith in this purge, faith in Reed, that he will accept my presence when the time comes."


    "... You''re right," Sierra agreed. "Some of what you feel is confusing, enough that I don''t fully understand how your feelings for Reed and yourself manifest. But I do trust you Lumina. I''m here for you, always... I just wish you could have gotten what you wanted while keeping yourself out of trouble."


    I didn''t have to speak or open my eyes for us. Sierra kept us locked in this pose for longer, letting the concern show for the first time, concern for me especially. I can feel her large heart too, how desperate she is to help me, to sooth me, until my confirmed happiness puts her to rest again. This is exactly why she and I are amazing friends, the two of us inseparable no matter what happens to us... I don''t know what''s going to happen from here. I don''t know what the future will hold. All I know, is that I wish to be loved, and love in return, trading and amplifying this sacred feeling none can do without. So now, I can feel everything at once.


    "Forgive me for what I''m about to say," Leanne started, "but is this still alright, with Reed being a male and all?"


    Without letting me go, Sierra educated the poor girl what she had been missing from everything. "There are obviously hidden gems of the world which can be both male or female. This means that not every single male on Earth is a heathen, no matter what the queen and her Royal Scryers think. Though we must still wait in order to be absolutely certain of this, I expect Lumina to present this fact by example. No matter what happens Lumina, I know with all my heart that you are no traitor of The Unity, and you do not deserve any kind of punishment." At last, she let me go for air, with Sierra sitting on her knees while others stood themselves up in deep thought.


    "Thanks Sierra. I''m still going mad waiting for the purge though."


    "You must be patient Lumina. There isn''t a way to know if the purge fails, unfortunately, until it is far too late. However, you still have some time, so please just hang in there, for yourself and for the rest of us."


    "I know... I''m trying."


    "We don''t have to talk about it anymore if it makes you¡ª"


    "No!" I denied gripping her left arm. "Please... I want to talk about it more, to tell you everything I know about Reed... It makes me feel better, calmer to talk about him."


    "I hadn''t realized how much anxiety had been building within you all this time... Very well," Sierra agreed with a faint smile. "Give us a few minutes, and we shall gather to hear more about this. However, once you''d spoken enough, I want you to hear about some of the experiences my sisters have had in their observations... Turns out you were right. You were dead wrong a long time ago, but so was I, and somehow, you discovered a reason worth being involved in ACS414, one more worthy than I ever have."


    "I never cared about being right or wrong, as though it were some kind of game."


    "See what I mean?" Sierra shrugged, presenting the point of deeper meaning by my own words, to mean that she must not have taken this alien world seriously enough... It turns out they can hurt us after all, unintentionally, by revealing their worst moments, should we care to synchronize our thoughts with theirs...


    "Go ahead and clean yourself up a bit. I''ll want to hear everything you know, like what Reed has been through and everything."


    It was impossible for me to feel much better at such a quick turnaround, so while I couldn''t lift a single smile, her words were still strong enough to pacify me. I really was in rougher shape than I imagined before, shaken up by the feelings bubbling up in my heart, learning the hard way just how difficult being alive can be. "There''s a lot to tell, but luckily we still have lots of time."

 Chapter 018: Contact

    <hr>


    <11/01/149,566 {Avion 148} - 06:00 | Corral Position, Genosis, Altiri Sector Space>


    <Karnak to ACS414 Date Equivalent: 11/01/2010>


    Our psionic clock last biding time and strength, cycled in and out of every moment, every breath, and every new memory, until the day these dials stopped. Brimming with such incredible and unfamiliar sensation, the signal inside of him lit up like a supernova, leaking such strong energy for me to feel from new corners of my mind. Difficult to describe, this mixture of sensation was like an important promise of imminence, a warning that collective currents of fate would intertwine and invoke action at a particular time and place.


    I was most certain why, having looked into these expectations long before; and for this reason, I had most of my sisters directly at my side, waiting with me by the window of our main room observation area. With the backdrop of an infinite cosmos, I took deeper, calmer breaths, trying to meditate my way into the psionic overflow coming from my friend to be. This timing, this sensation, this moment can only be the final phase of the purge, the signal I sent to Reed, so that I may enter the scape of his mind and earn a sacred place in his heart.


    No matter what I was telling myself, of all volley, of all anxiety and stress, of all excitement and hope, I needed to balance myself and focus, so that I may lock-on to that incredible psionic signature, Reed''s psionic signature. If I''m feeling this now, then it will be minutes or less for the final result to be revealed.


    Though I had to shut my eyes, my other senses were wide awake to the flow of this new space around me. It was like breathing into a world that exists between here and the other, my concentrated senses plugging into the psionic receptacles of my focus, the human I must come to know. Such a challenge warranted more time than just a few seconds, and far more energy expenditure than I would ever have given with another Altiri, though I pressed on, granted the required silence from my sisters so that I may concentrate, despite their growing anticipation and hope that I may succeed.


    At last, in what stole a strong gasp from my mouth, my eyes and ears opened once more, while the feeling of gentle descent ceased. Despite knowing I was on my own ship, everything from my forward view was suddenly blasted into this new world, a small space lit with yellow light from above, and a direct view angle that seemed to drift around the room on its own, disregarding any of my own input. The silence around me quickly became replaced by a gentle ambience of soft white noise, sourced from a nearby oscillating fan against the far end of the room.


    Before I could say anything or react to how interesting this was, all I was sensing instantly shifted back to the interior of my spaceship, and my struggle to bring my back to him was met with fierce resistance, the requisite of continued concentration.


    "Don''t give up sister. You can do it!" Fully supportive of everything I was doing, Junko stood closest to me, watching my struggle with more sympathy than I''ve ever seen in her before, and I could feel similar enough mixture from my sisters right behind me, and some from the other ships.


    I knew they were right, and I knew I had to trust myself, even now. This telepathic link isn''t exactly stable enough for discussion just yet, and if I don''t get the hang of it now, all of this will be for nothing. I can''t let that happen! "Okay Reed. I know you can''t hear me yet, but you must sense my presence, while I sense yours." Much easier said than done, I still gave it my all, trying what I''ve been already, while adding more of my psionic focus into this than I expected to. It was more than simple process. I forced myself to think of him more, of and about Reed, everything about Reed and all that he must feel, his likes, his tastes, his personalities, his interests; everything, and I combined this with my ultimate desire, to speak to him, to communicate with him, to connect every pathway of my heart with his, even if it took all I am. "This is all coming from the seventh phase of the purge, so I shall rely on it now. Purge phase seven, level one testing; this is my telepathic voice. Reed, you should be able to hear me right now, awake in your room..."


    There appeared to be no answer, and after several more seconds of waiting to hear nothing in return, I knew I was going to have to keep going at this. I can still blink his senses in with mine, so the connection must be there! This might be jarring for both of us, but you must hear me Reed. Feel my presence and my heart! Hear the voices you know to exist!


    "Phase seven, level two testing. I''ll try this again. Can you hear me at all?"


    "What the¡ª" A soft but deep voice escaped his breath, certain I was that it wasn''t I or my sisters who suddenly spoke just now. That was him! I heard Reed just now! What did he say? Was he reacting to my voice, or to something else?


    Unwilling to settle for uncertainties, I tried once more to link my senses with his properly, but I had to sit myself down on the floor first, shutting my eyes to block the distractions of the world around me, hoping my sisters lingering would not interfere. This time, my effort had a lower cost, and I was able to see through his eyes and hear through his ears again. The room was a bit dimmer and blurrier than I imagined it being, but I had to remind myself that this is human vision I''m using right now, not Altiri vision. The quietness of the space might simply be his less sensitive hearing, compared to my own. I could still tell Reed was looking around faster than normal, panning around the room, questioning the source of the earlier noise.


    Something wasn''t right though. I could feel residual vibration in the air right in front of me, but the noise I was supposed to hear was nearly mute or muffled, proving that our connection was still not fully stabilized yet. I had to try once again, merging my senses with his own, to bring all that I feel and all that he feels together as one, until all I know overlaps towards the other side of current perspective.


    "Phase seven ¨C level three testing. Is this link working? Can you hear me? Yes you! Can you hear me?" All I could do was be patient now, wondering if the panicked panning around the room Reed was doing was really in response to me or not. If I have to try this a thousand more times, I will. Suddenly, my hearing picked up, synchronizing to all that could be picked up in his space, of gentle rustling through sheets underneath, and of movement to look around the room some more, before he finally spoke.


    "I can hear you, but I have no idea where you are."


    "Yes!" I jumped out in an excited shout. "It worked!" My actions brought my own world back to me again, but this time in a way where part of Reed''s view overlapped with my own with a strong level of transparency, something I could fix any time I wanted. Instead, I turned around to my sisters, already smiling with joy and relief that this purge was already a physical success! I had Junko, Sherika, Talor, and the others slapping my hands for high fives, while all of them rejoiced in whispers to avoid disturbing Reed too much at once. It didn''t matter if I stuck to any protocol or not, because it finally worked!


    "What worked? Why can''t I see you?"


    Okay, I sighed desperately to relax myself. The first telepathic link is now working perfectly. Even now with my eyes open, I can keep track of where Reed concentrates his field of view on, and still hear everything coming from him, now with minimal background effort. This mostly takes care of the first difficulty. The new focus should now be to get Reed to trust me. Before he can, I''ll have to tell him the truth with utmost haste. "Don''t bother looking around. I''m not where you think I am."


    "What is this...? What do you mean?"


    I had to take an extra second to continue adjusting, for the longer I remained connected to him, the more this other world opened up to me through Reed. I was already beginning to feel something gently bumping the inside of my chest, a heartbeat I think, much faster than my own. "Don''t worry Reed. Give me time, and I''ll explain everything."


    Reed started to take some deep breaths of his own, when he slowly backed up to stand against the wall, panning upwards as if he was beginning to suspect a number of alternate conclusions. "How do you know my name? What is going on?!" His voice also became louder by the minute, more demanding in his need for answers.


    "I''m not invisible Reed. Right now, we''re using telepathy to speak to each other."


    "Telepathy?!" his voice cracked with daunting surprise. I wanted to reply instantly and make this easy, but then I heard Reed''s voice come on again, this time different than it was a moment ago. Such a thing isn''t real, is it? No, why now? I must still be asleep.


    Interesting, I thought. I could still hear him, but Reed wasn''t speaking aloud with his mouth just now, nor was he invoking telepathic thought with the volume I was used to. His thoughts just now were almost quiet, unintentional maybe? Whatever the case, I had so much to remember at once, all of which regarded the properties of telepathy. If Reed thinks something out loud, even if little effort is put into it, I can still hear it, with less echo at the very least. I''m going to have to convince him that he isn''t asleep, and that telepathy is a real power most people could have.


    "Tell me your name. What is your name?"


    "Okay. You have the connection now Lumina. Just don''t screw anything up. Take your time and be precise, or whatever it is you planned to do so long ago."


    They don''t need to remind me. I''m lucky that the voices of my sisters won''t transfer over to Reed''s telepathic senses, since in this case it would only confuse him much more. He would only be able to hear my sisters if they spoke verbally up into my ears. However, I had to snap my fingers right behind myself, instigating for all of them to stay a moment longer. I need them for something else. "I don''t know what you will remember, but my name is Lumina. Right now, we are telepathically linked together just to communicate like this."


    "Lu-mina...?" He broke up the syllables of my name, almost as if he found them familiar. I was hoping it would be too familiar to ever forget, but I don''t actually have a way to know for certain how much about me he has learned from phase five in the purge. Just hearing him speak my name at all sent such voltage through me, something that felt amazing without any explanation to relate it to.


    "No!" His sudden volume had both of us jerk back a bit, though I had no idea what came over him.


    "What''s wrong?"


    "No, no! No! No, no! This can''t be happening!"


    "Calm down, it''s okay." Though this was too new to me, I knew already what conclusion Reed must have made, either one where he has gone too insane to trust himself, or one where he has realized what I am, terrified from the revelation.


    Reed wasn''t listening to my soothing voice anymore. He instead chose to panic in place and in the silent comfort of his own mind, which I could now hear. It''s finally happened. I''ve finally gone insane.


    "Relax Reed! I can assure you that you are not crazy!"


    "Just leave me alone!" His threat made me tense so unexpectedly. I predicted this much might happen, but I had not prepared myself for how horrible it would be, to instantly be feared and rejected by his inviting personality so soon. "How can I not be crazy? I''m hallucinating out of my mind here."


    So he thinks he is hallucinating? There isn''t much I can do to allow Reed to see me with such intense complexities as given by our natural occulism. All this means is that I need to prioritize getting him to believe I am real to him, myself and the other Altiri.


    "Reed? Are you up?"


    Oh crap! Reed panicked once more, sliding from the wall to the side of his bed in an attempt to appear a bit more natural, while I was left to guess what just happened.


    It wasn''t difficult to understand. That muffled voice I just heard must have been Marrie''s voice, Reed''s mother, hearing his own voice, since for some reason, he has not tried speaking to me using the full power of telepathy. I only now understood why there was a lack of mental echo in his words.


    Before I could say anything, Marrie opened the door to his room, right in the center front of his eyes, and I was forced to wait and listen as a passive observer. Even though I had less to worry about, everything just felt so real, so fast, so intense. Being connected to him like this is such a rush!


    "Who were you just talking to?"


    So she did hear!


    Nothing I could do about it now Reed. I didn''t mean for my presence to awaken the rest of the house, though it was refreshing getting to see his mom up close and personal... Looks like I''m going to have to be careful here, careful and patient. My goal is to help Reed, not disturb the aspects of his life which he wants to protect. I''ve heard too many times what curse befalls purged humans when their families find out, always favoring the belief of insanity over alternate possibility.


    "Nothing mom. I''m just half-asleep is all." Please just ignore that so I can put this behind me!


    For once, Reed and I were in perfect agreement, and Marrie seemed too mundane about the situation to dive further into it. "If you say so. It''s already six, so it''s time to start getting ready." Reed nodded his head, and his mother then shut the door on her way out, leaving behind a silence I wasn''t sure should endure.


    Reed then turned around entirely, as if to face me directly while whispering, "Listen here you blob of fiction! I don''t have the time for this. Be gone already!"


    I sighed again, wondering if I really had this under control. This is all happening a little too fast, and there are some confusing thoughts slamming around in that head of his. It''s almost like he thinks faster than most people do. I can see this is going to need some work. "For the record, you don''t have to talk to me out loud. You can speak to me simply by thinking out loud. It can help when you don''t want others to hear us." If I''m to get anywhere, I first need to ensure us both that Reed can speak to me discretely, so that others nearby do not become aware of anything going on.


    With another aggressive whisper of desperation, the human made another demand of me. "Just shut up and go away!"


    I made sure to uphold the promise I made to myself. Even if this takes all day, I am going to get Reed to understand that I really do exist, and that he needs to trust me... I kept quiet for now though, uncertain how to proceed exactly. Some of this is strange... One of the known effects of the purge is that the target always retains a somewhat positive attitude of The Unity. Sure, it might be a forced personality enforcement, one that doesn''t go away for a few days at least, but I thought Reed would have held onto that. Instead, he''s panicking and leaning into some powerful fear instead. I don''t get it!


    "You mean like this?"


    Did he just speak with telepathy? I heard his voice echo a bit in each word, so that had to be it! "See? You already figured that much out." Great! If he can speak to me discretely, then that''s one less obstacle to worry about.


    It was still a lot to get used to at once even for me, finally capable of seeing every detail through his eyes, with no further interruptions or noise. I saw from the corner of his eyes, Reed folding his arms together with annoyance. "This doesn''t change anything. You have to leave me alone. You are nothing but a figment of my imagination, a product of my dreams. You ¨C are not real."


    "Untrue. If only you knew the truth Reed." I wonder what kind of dreams he had about me during the seven phases of the purge. It could have been about anything, though I bet he is confusing me with a dream right now. "I am real, Reed. I''m right here in the flesh. I''m just too far out of reach to see you in person is all."


    Oh, is that all? Give it a rest already. Even now was he not convinced, though I had yet to do anything to change that. It was hard to get a word in though, since Reed reacted faster to my presence. "Listen to me. We met in a lucid dream. That was all! Nothing else came of that moment, and nothing ever will. Now leave!"


    "Lucid dreams?" My confusion was well-founded. I knew how the purged operated, that it shows the person dreams of the sending node, but I never knew it invoked lucid dreams to make it happen... No, this has to be a rarity! "W¡ªwait a sec! I didn''t know you were having lucid dreams. I swear I know nothing about that!" Something isn''t right here. It''s true that Reed was supposed to absorb all knowledge of the Altiri including myself, but something tells me that process didn''t go through entirely. It can''t be!


    "Now you''re the one who lost me. Weren''t you going on about all these crazy things hours ago? Why pretend you don''t remember it now?"


    His words gave me some clarity at least. As I thought, whatever version of me he met in a dream is the person he has me confused with now. Normally that would be less shocking to people, but not if it comes from a lucid dream. "Listen. I didn''t know you had me confused with a dream version of myself, but that is all it was, just a dream. Whatever you saw in a dream is something I would not remember. The me that you met in that dream isn''t the real me speaking to you now. I''m real. I know that I''m real. Nothing about me or my presence is a product of your imagination. I promise."


    Unfortunately, Reed wasn''t buying my explanation. "Right, and the fact that you are both named Lumina, and you somehow know my name without me telling you is supposed to just fall into place?"


    With heavy defeat, I sighed once more, trying to reset all I felt so that I may convene with Reed on the most personal level, to ensure him I''m not lying. "Okay. I get that you are freaked out by all of this, but I can explain everything no matter how absurd it might seem. I can tell you who I really am and where I come from. I''ve been waiting for the moment for us to meet, so that I can tell you the truth about myself."


    "Oh, this outta be good."


    No more stalling, and no lies. I don''t care what Hurma and the queen want me to do. If I convince Reed of anything, this has to be genuine from the start. "I should start from the beginning. My name is Lumina. I''m an Altiri from a distant star we call the Genosis galaxy. As for my role, I''m a warrior from a frozen planet we call Karnak."


    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    "Alright, just stop already." His firm tone pushed me down with more fear, and I could sense his agitation growing. "This has to be the most absurd thing I''ve heard in all my life! I''m through trying to keep up with all of this, and I also happen to have school today, so¡ª"


    School! That''s right! Reed has school today! "Oh! I want to see your school! I forgot that you would still be enrolled. Seventh grade right now, right?" I''ve never seen much of the world beyond the limited scope of clairvoyance, but having telepathic access through his eyes will let me learn so much more.


    "That''s not what I¡ª Just leave me alone Lumina! Whatever you are doing, undo it and buzz off!"


    I didn''t even get to introduce my sisters to him yet, and already does he distrust me to an extreme. Why though? Why can''t I get Reed to understand that this is really happening to him, that we''re both really communicating with each other? It was almost all I could think about, the despair soon to crush me, but I recalled my own promises earlier, to the duties I have to myself and to what I owe my sisters. I won''t give up that easily.


    For the first time since this very connection, I ceased using my telepathic projection to speak, and made my physical voice heard, certain and stern, so that Reed understands how important this is to me as well. "No! I don''t want to." I don''t know exactly what I''m saying anymore. All I know is that I won''t give up. I don''t want to lose this when I just got it.


    You don''t want to? "Why the hell not?"


    "Because," I beckoned. "The experimental purge cycle finally completed. All of my effort finally came to this moment. I can''t just forget about it and leave now!"


    "Great," Reed replied in distress, holding his left eye and obscuring some of my view. "Not only am I a real loser, I''m hearing voices in my head that I can''t shut down."


    Why would he ever think that? Reed, you should never say something like that about yourself! "You are not a loser, not to me. Don''t ever call yourself that again." He''s worth so much more in value, whether he hears voices or not. "And I am as real a person as you, whether you accept it or not! Don''t you understand that we''re using telepathy right now? It isn''t just a way to communicate. We can share each other''s direct senses if we wanted to. But it''s not all flowing as it should yet. The connection is still too young."


    I wish I knew how my own words made him feel, but I wasn''t lying about the incomplete link. Even limited telepathy should share our emotions and thoughts entirely, including physical sensation, but it''s still too soon. I waited on Reed to reply for a long time, only to hear the tail-end of his inner thoughts normally hidden from me. But if she really thinks this will convince me, I pity that half of my brain. He still doesn''t believe a word I say, nor will he if I can''t talk him into it.


    "You don''t believe me? Fine." I need something a bit more intense than this. If I can prove we share our senses as well as our thoughts, it should be all the more real for him. Just talking isn''t enough though. Before I could put any stock in my actions, I first had to fix this incomplete connection, which took several seconds of silence and concentration, doing all I could to boost this energy buzzing in my head. "Perhaps a demonstration is in order." With most assurance I had done it, I was already feeling tingly sensations all over my arms and legs, the subtle air and fabric of cloth brushing Reed''s body.


    Before I allowed him to ask what I was up to, I sucked in all the air I could, bracing myself while trying to hold back in my strength for what would come next. Then, I brought my fist right to the lower end of my stomach, inflicting just enough pain to register for both of us, and Reed was already falling to the floor crouched in agony. The moment brought all of my sisters'' attention to me too, who were quietly asking why the hell I would hurt myself like that, as they have no way to monitor our talks.


    "Lumina! That hurt me you idiot! What did you do that for?!" If he could speak so easily after a blow to the stomach, it means I held back even more than I meant to, but better to do no damage than some damage. "It''s all just imaginary in the end. So what if you can hurt me? This still changes nothing. I still can''t even see you."


    How can he be so stubborn?! Uuuugh, this is so frustrating! "You sure do favor your skepticism... The connection should be strong enough now, considering what I just proved. You say that you don''t believe me because you can''t see through my eyes while I can see through yours huh? But that is something I can change. Just hold still for a sec."


    Now what is she planning?


    The only thing I plan to do is convince him I do exist. Having boosted the connection proves I can do even more. Reed can''t seem to see through my eyes even though I can clearly see through his. I won ''t be able to boost the connection strong enough to make dual-vision perfect, but it should be enough for him to see something about my world through my eyes, anything at all, no matter the transparency. Share in my vision Reed; see through my eyes and observe the world that reached out to you!


    "What the hell? Am I..."


    I could already sense it too. In my fixed concentration to allow Reed to see through my eyes, I started losing some visual of his sight in the process, but the sensation of our connection intensified in the process. I wasn''t expecting the sudden rush that came after, as I was somehow able to see a faint reflection of what Reed was seeing with my eyes already open, which was most confusing, though I prevailed this ability. His reaction proves it was working.


    "I know it looks like the inside of a space station control center, but it''s really not that advanced. I''m in a room adjacent to the master cockpit. The space you are seeing is inside our space ship. And that''s not all. All of my sisters are here too. You can meet Junko right now."


    I didn''t wait any longer. Though I was only meant to show Reed Junko, I turned to face all of my sisters I had instructed to wait, so that Reed would be able to visualize all of them, the ones in the main room anyway. It took a moment with the sensory shift going in and out, but based on some soft gasps I felt from his breath, I knew he finally saw us at last, including Junko, who I focused my view onto. "This is Junko, my co-pilot, and these are some, but not all of my sisters, all of us Altiri." My vocalization ensured my sisters were on the same page with me too, knowing why I wanted them to stay just long enough for this moment. Though with their role now complete, most of them began the journey to head back to their own ships, as I turned back around to the beautiful display in the observation section.


    "I''ve finally lost my mind." He sounded so fazed and unsure of himself, like he couldn''t believe what he saw with his own eyes.


    "No Reed. You finally found it, and I finally found you." Just saying that felt so magical. In this entire sea of stars, I found someone who I wanted to talk to, and I made it all happen through the choices I''ve set.


    Unfortunately for me, Reed started packing his school supplies, ignoring my own sentiment instead. "I am so not doing this. Goodbye Lumina."


    He then went on his morning ignoring me as if I were not there, though I had to keep myself quiet to rethink how this plan is supposed to work. He doesn''t know how to disconnect the connection on his own, and I''m not going to tell him how to do it, but if it warms up today before he learns how to call me back, or before the day ends, all of this will be for nothing. As happy as I am now, I have not won just yet.


    I waited for a while, until Reed brought himself outdoors in the night still waning, his curiosity holding his eyes to the twinkling stars above, amazed at the possibilities, but unwilling to accept the reality given to him. I had no choice but to join him in gazing through that sky, wondering what I should do next, my confidence melting at every second this drags on.


    It''s even hard for me to believe this was really happening. If it were not for the confirmation of all other Altiri in my world, I too would wonder if this alien world was real or fake. I don''t know how to get through to him though. All I want to do is be a friend to him, but how can I accomplish this if he has no faith in our existence? Reed, I thought all you wanted back then was the miracle I granted you already.


    Did she finally take the hint and leave me alone? Or is she still really here in silence?


    "Would it bother you if you knew I still was here?"


    "So you are still here! Honestly. Why won''t you just stop what you are doing?"


    Never before have I felt such true shame, to think it is really possible that Reed despises all of my existence. It''s all too fast; he wants nothing to do with us, and he won''t even give this a chance. I guess the rumor that the purges makes subjects more accepting of us was but a solid lie... "We are linked in the sixth sense of telepathy. If I were to shut it down now... Well..." I couldn''t even finish that sentence, to consider the thought that I may never see him again. I could never bear it; I would never allow it, and yet I''m not the one with the controls anymore. Reed and I share this connection, so he must also consent to this by day''s end.


    "Then what? This all stops for good? I said that is what I want, and yet you refuse to leave. Can you at least tell me what it is you are trying to do?"


    "I wanted us to meet each other just like we are now. I want us to be friends, not enemies, with someone as rare as you." Feel it Reed! Feel how much I care about you from the bottom of my heart! This very moment we are sharing now is exactly what I''ve wanted for a long time, and knowing that I helped make it happen has made me more complete than I''ve ever been before. We both deserve better than we''ve been served; all of us do.


    "This is a bit much, even for me." Still unconvinced, Reed folded his arms on the sidewalk of the neighborhood street, addressing me directly. "Of course I knew all along this was because of something like friendship. But what makes me so rare anyway? Aren''t you supposed to be the alien?"


    I didn''t quite understand his question, but I knew all I wanted to say, where it involves my reasons. "Look out there to the sky Reed. You''ve felt us calling out to you before; I know you have. You''ve always wondered what else could be out there, wondered if anybody in the world would ever try to understand you, to give real effort. As for us, you and I are the only ones who can telepathically communicate with each other. Before now, you didn''t possess that ability, not until I purged you."


    "Purged me? What does that even mean? Doesn''t purge mean to¡ª"


    "No, it''s not the same term you were thinking of." I know this much already, that the phrase purge is a specialty term for us Altiri, while the phrase also exists in the human English language, though with a very different definition. For us, it doesn''t mean to destroy or remove, quite the opposite instead. "Purging is a totally different and complex process for us Altiri. It''s a learned ability that allows us to transpart some of our powers onto other humans from any distance."


    Transpart? As in¡ª "Hold up a second," Reed interrupted anxiously. "You transparted your powers onto me?" He sounds so different suddenly, as if he was willing to have a bit more faith in the idea than before. "If that''s what you mean, I could probably fly around and shoot laser beams from my eyes?"


    Oh, so that''s why. He must think that if he could use some provable, visible, tangible superpowers, that in itself would be enough evidence. Still, I had enough trouble holding back a mild laugh at his accusation. Laser beams from the eyes? Come on now! "How cute. You actually think I''m some green ugly thing from those horror films? You think I could turn into a bat and fly around like a super hero?"


    "Uh, I''ve already seen you twice now, dumbass. And you can''t mock me for not knowing anything about the Altiri in the first place. I know nothing about your supposed alien world."


    "But..." That''s not possible! What does he mean he knows nothing about the Altiri? Phase five of the purge should have taken care of all of that! Is this the reason he''s so skeptical? What information was left out from the purge, about me, about us, about The Unity and everything in our world? "You should know much more than the basics! Something must have gone wrong with the purge after all." For all I know, the summer he would have endured during the purge could have damaged the process in some way. We''re all lucky the purge didn''t outright fail and discard itself from the excessive heat alone.


    "What is this purge business you keep going on about?"


    With a rough sigh, I took some time to collect my thoughts while sipping on my water bottle, entrusting Junko to handle the controls while I gently leaned in seat against the metal wall of the main room, wondering how long this was going to take.


    "The purge signal we sent to you is specifically designed to open up your psionic abilities. But it also has a secondary purpose of teaching you everything we already know about the Altiri, all through subconscious subversion protocols."


    Right... Is he pretending to believe me? "You lost me. I have no idea what you are saying right now." Guess I should have explained this better. I don''t know how much he will understand though, given his age and all.


    But there must me some common link. There has to be knowledge he retained from the purge! Herios said herself that a purge completion would be impossible without this! "Come on Reed! You''re telling me that in none of your dreams, nothing strange ever happened to you that you couldn''t fully comprehend? You didn''t have any of our shared memories about the Altiri? Or what about our history lessons, or the scenery of that world you must have seen and felt? What about my very own name?"


    "What are you..."


    Failing to register his confusion, I pressed on faster, my desperation exploding, as this would only make everything twice as impossible as before. I could have simply told him that all he learned from the purge was real, that it wasn''t mere fiction, but if he can''t recall anything, then I''ll have to start this all from scratch again! Don''t you remember the woman who purged you Reed? Didn''t you feel my heart calling out to you in the long months I''ve waited? "You may have felt off about many things from the very moment that you were purged, but all of it was real and happened to you."


    For reasons I didn''t catch onto, Reed held the side of his head after stopping his walk entirely, not to demonstrate pain, instead great confusion. "Lumina. When was this? When was this moment that you purged me exactly?"


    "We all pitched in and purged you on August 11, 2009." I would never forget that day, no matter how much time passed. We purged Reed on my own birthday, although such an additive was never intentional.


    "That was a little over a year ago..."


    "I can''t be certain of this, but I think it would have been the day before you began middle school, or some time near that." I feared before that I was running out of time to prevent Reed from turning into a heathen, but I knew as well that the powers of a purge on his mind would distract him from those thoughts, halting a hellish transformation.


    Instead of the reaction I expected after hearing Reed gasp to the revelation, I waited for silent seconds, being patient to let him realize what it all means for himself. I soon discovered that I should not have allowed him to try, because what came next was the most confusing and impossible spur of thoughts I''ve ever heard in any individual. It was if his mind was going rampant, out of control, with too many thoughts to process at once, with such unprecedented speeds I''ve seen in nobody else.


    I could only make out some of the sentences blasting away at his mind, the thoughts so quick they overlapped some of the noise of other thoughts, though I knew immediately how disruptive and negative they were. Did the revelation of his own purge scare him this badly, or was this something else? "Reed? Reed!" I didn''t know if my shouting had awakened him, dragged him from his own chaotic mind, or slipped his consciousness somewhere else, but in a mere moment, the link between us surged and intensified, all because the mental energy within him became so alive and alert.


    With senses as sharp as knives, Reed''s eyes were wide open, and his mind truly awakened to the nexus of information around him. "All of that... All of that was your doing?"


    "Eh¡ª" Only now could I feel the anger in his inflections, such hostility to the mere realization that I was responsible for this purge, that I was responsible for any and all of the strange things which occurred within Reed from the beginning of August 11<sup>th</sup> last year to now. "Yes. Yes it was." I may have caused some problems by giving him this purge, but it will all be worth it in the end.


    "Tell me Lumina..." His own hesitation had me curious, but without delay, I could see him looking at his hands, shaking in front of him from the horrors I had no insight to, his heartbeat accelerating. "Lumina!"


    I let out a sudden "Yeep!" after jumping slightly off my feet, the abrupt noise of his anger shaking me to no end.


    "What did you do to me? Which thoughts are supposed to be mine, huh? Which part of myself am I supposed to believe in after you messed with my head?!"


    "Reed, please! What''s done is already done." This can''t be happening now! I''ve never seen him so angry before, and all for such reason. He knows the effects are temporary, right? "I didn''t mean you any harm!"


    No matter what I tried to say, my voice lacked what confidence and passion Reed returned, though to feel such anger brought me to my knees. "Do you have any idea how socially awkward I''ve become, thanks to, thanks to your meddling? The reason I have no friends isn''t because I messed up, it''s because of you! You asshole!"


    "No!" No, it isn''t because of me! It can''t be my fault... No matter what I wanted to think though, my imagination already went to work constructing how the whole incident could have been mapped out. What if I made a mistake after all? What if my purging Reed in the first place, I''ve only doomed him further from what we both wanted?


    I could hear a new commotion in the background of Reed''s area, some woman addressing him with a stern and confused outlook. "Who the hell are you yelling at?" She was only onto him since Reed and I both were not using our telepathic voices to speak to each other discretely, but I think the both of us were beyond caring about the minor detail anymore...


    Is this really true? Am I the one who caused him such damage and pain, by provoking improper growth with my own purge? I wanted to deny the blame until I was blue in the face, but the mere possibility that it could be true froze my mind and body in ways I''ve never been frozen before, leaving myself mute while Reed continued to the bus stop, sluggishly in deep thought.


    Who cares what she says? If all of this Altiri nonsense is just fake, part of my own imagination, then even something like a psychological purge should not exist either. So there is nothing to get worked up about. All of his thoughts were laid out for us both, publicly projected without intent, but I was too far gone to worry. Even knowing he was purged, he still doesn''t believe in us. Still, if strange things were happening to me before, wouldn''t that mean that I''ve slowly been going crazy from the start? What if I have a split personality disorder or something? I don''t want to end up in a nuthouse!


    This has all happened before, and I needed to remind myself how much care I should use before everything gets way out of control. It''s bad enough Reed thinks this isn''t reality anymore, but if he genuinely believes to be going insane, he might submit to therapeutic tests from... I can''t let that happen, not again, after those girls died from their own madness.


    Speaking of which, it''s been too quiet suddenly. Why isn''t she saying anything? Did I manage to get rid of her?


    I don''t know how else to convince him though. Was it always to be this difficult for those who purge others? "Still here."


    "Naaaguhl!" Even though I''ve kept my focus on us so strong, I think I''ve finally run out of words to say. I don''t know what to do anymore. How annoying that she could hear every last one of my thoughts! "Hey. Psst!" Lumina? Hey! Lumina!"


    Why is he trying to whisper to me in normal speak? Has Reed learned nothing of our current interactions? "I told you already, if you want to communicate with me without looking like a maniac, use your thoughts to do it!" Honestly, does this guy not take a hint? "Whether I project or not, the people around you cannot hear me."


    I wondered briefly if Reed was trying to get my attention for anything specific, but he soon enough soured his own mood again from my little lesson. "If that''s how it is, then just purge everybody. Ruin their lives too why don''t you?"


    Where does all that negativity come from? It isn''t just about himself or others, but the whole world itself. He can hate the world all he wants, but I''ve come here to help him see something greater. "Quit being such a baby! Besides, I can only purge one human being. Once I''ve done so, I can never purge anybody else ever again." You Reed, are the only one I''ve truly wanted to purge, the only one I felt I could protect from the darkness this world spreads... What even is there to say anymore? I don''t know what to do. Can I ask my sisters for help? No, they''ll just suggest I use unsavory, deceptive tactics to trick him instead. I can''t entrust something so important to them, not if it means lying to the one I care about.


    "Bummer!" Reed returned sarcastically. "At least now I know why you won''t leave me alone. Not that I care."


    "You don''t seem to know anything about me. It''s not like I was trying to mess up any part of your life. But what should I care anymore? If you''re so distraught to even talk to me, then I guess you haven''t been doing too badly."


    "What did you just say?" Sounds like I''ve already triggered his animosity onto me.


    I have no way out of this nightmare, but if I''m going down, if I''m going to fail in the most important thing I''ve ever done, I''m not going to leave these things unsaid. "You heard me well enough," I shot back. "You really think I didn''t know? You''ve had trouble making friends from the very first grade, and after what I''ve seen in fifth, I thought my purge wouldn''t have created any issues. But hey? You know yourself best, right?"


    With no idea why this conversation incites so much of his anger, all I could do was passively listen to his desperate chatter. "Riddle me this Einstein! How do you know anything about my past? If you are who you say you are, explain that!"


    "With clairvoyance. We''ve been watching over you since you were a small child, you and a few others. I watched you grow up every winter, and seen some of the things you had to endure. They''re tiny to most people, but they affect you deeply, that much I was able to tell just by watching."


    "That''s just plain creepy no matter how you put it."


    "And here I thought you would have been happy with this; free from a world so crappy and boring." How long have I seen him rely on such strong insight, to crave intelligent interaction, only to be left stranded and dry? How many times have I seen Reed try to mingle with those around him, only to be slapped away at every chance; every day deepening those wounds, every moment suffocating what survived?! He cannot hide this much from me. I don''t care if it was creepy or obsessive; I know the truth to this level.


    "Don''t even go there, illusion! Even if you could explain away everything I went through during the purge, it was you who caused it all in the first place! My life might not be anywhere close to perfect, but at least I don''t go around creating fabrications and imaginary friends to ease my pain, until now I guess. I can''t handle this..."


    "Reed..." Is this all he wants now? The idea of us talking matters less than the idea of our existence being proven beyond all doubt? Was Hurma and the others right all along? Did I seriously misread someone, me, the one who was always so amazing at seeing into the hearts of others at a mere glance? It could not be so, yet here Reed was, standing in the contrary before me, an alien who by all appearances was too friendly and open-hearted, hath already turned to soulless steel. Maybe I was right about his character, but too late to react. Maybe I was wrong about everything, and that Reed is not as special as I thought he was.


    "Oh, and I can hear the roaring engine of the bus now." Reed basically finished his walk to the bus stop area, carrying the distant view of the yellow bus in both our eyes, though I''ve never felt so defeated to hear anyone wish for an escape from my presence. "Looks like I''ll see you again, never!"


    "Reed, please just¡ª"


    "That''s enough!" I whimpered from his wrath; too desperate to be aggressive, and too fearful to be malicious, yet equally powerful enough to rip a new hole into my heart. "I''m sick of it already! I''ve got school to catch and this is going nowhere! At least there, I''m not totally crazy!"


    "You sure about that bruh?" One of the school kids was now chuckling with his heathen mates, all making Reed look ashamed. Meanwhile, having been dragged to the bottom of my own failure, there was only one thing I could do left, merely just a duty to the protocol I was supposed to follow in this process.


    "Okay, look. I know what I said earlier, about not wanting to drop the connection. And I can tell that you want to, but you don''t yet know how to."


    "This the part where you give me the key on shutting it off?"


    "Please just hear me out." Every nerve in my body screamed at me for even going where I was, but I had no choice. Even if I fail, Reed should have the right to know that all of this is temporary if his chooses it to be. "By the end of the night, when you go to bed and try to sleep, the connection will automatically shut off. It will do so anytime you get tired enough to fall asleep, even if you were to fight it a bit. People can''t project psionic energy in their sleep, so that would include telepathic connections too."


    "Sounds like a problem that solves itself... A full day huh? At least now I have a set deadline."


    "The thing is, the completion of the purge process has a final phase, this phase. It automatically initiates¡ª" cutting myself off in correction, I continued with revision. "It forces the first connection to stabilize between us, but that automatic process is the only one time that will ever happen."


    "So?"


    It should be easy enough for him to understand. He wants a way out of this already. I can''t give up just yet, so I won''t kill the connection now, but I can''t force this on him either. "After tonight, next morning rather, you won''t hear my voice again, that is unless you put in the effort to reestablish the link. I can''t just force my way into your head like that, not after the first day is over. You will have to call me and allow the connection to happen. It''s a two way process that will become something only you can do. And that means, after today, you have the total choice of deciding whether or not you want to see me again." I didn''t even try to hide my sadness, hoping instead he would absorb all I was feeling, and put it to through his own heart.


    "Okay," he agreed calmly. "Let''s do that then. Once today is over, I won''t have to deal with this anymore."


    "Please Reed!" I cried with all my strength, promising whatever it takes for him to reconsider! He can''t choose to kick me out, not like this, not now! "At least take this one day to listen to all I have to say. I''ll do everything in my power to prove to you that I do exist! And if you still don''t like this, it really will be over forever."


    For a moment too long for me to breathe, we both held our air, all for Reed to consider the conviction in my words. "I dont know..."


    "Please! What do you have to lose? I really just want you to consider this!" I can tell him about anything, any part of my world, answer any question he might ever have about us! Maybe all he needs is to hear more about us in order to understand why we care about him, at least why I care.


    "... Why though?"


    Doing my best to hide the tears already dripping from my eyes, I did my best to answer. "Because... Because I really do want to be friends with you. Me and my sisters are all on your side." My choice words came directly from my heart; I didn''t need to consider them in any kind of thought.


    "Oh really? A small band of space aliens wants to buddy up with me that badly?"


    "You know that I do! You know how I already feel about this. You''re one of the only friends I want. I''m that sure of it! I could have chosen any other human to purge, but I only wanted to pick you. You''ve been trying to make friends for a long time, and you still have every right to keep trying... But please let me try too Reed. I want the two of us to be friends as well. I promise that was the reason why I purged you, why I still think it was worth some of the trouble, though I am sorry about what that purge did to you... Please..." What else could I say? I''ve never laid my entire heart out like this to anyone before, and I''m willing to bet Reed never had anyone do this for him either.


    He kept quiet, his mind finally calm compared to how it was before, back in deep consideration for what I was giving him. However, it wasn''t long before that large yellow truck showed up, disrupting our attention, but not enough for me to lose hope. "Don''t you want to know why? Don''t you want to learn what I really see in you?" I stood back up from being on the floor, declaring absolution to us both, to our connection, to our day, and to our merged reality, and somewhere inside of him, I just knew that the gears in his thoughts and emotions were turning, to consider everything all over again.


    Even if he tells me to clear off, I won''t leave him. Even if he becomes annoyed by my presence, I won''t give up on him. I have to make the most of this entire day, no matter what it takes, to help Reed. Should he not understand that which makes him so special, that which I''ve grown to love so much?

 Chapter 019: Communication

    <hr>


    <11/01/149,566 {Avion 148} - 07:02 | Corral Position, Genosis, Altiri Sector Space>


    <Karnak to ACS414 Date Equivalent: 11/01/2010>


    <Telepathic Link: Established | Telepathic Strength: Moderate ~ {45<sup>o</sup>N}>


    At long last, I''ve come too far to quit now. I have Reed in my sights, in my presence, and myself on his mind. All who are purged get to make a daring choice on the very first day; whether to have us leave or have us stay, a choice usually made permanent. I can''t worry about the risks any longer. I have to tell him everything, everything there is to know about my world, my past, and me, and also to let him know that I''ve long since cared about every little moment he has been through.


    "Okay..." Reed released a soft whisper of air, slowly inching to the opened bus doors, waiting to be the last student to get on. "Fine. I''ll listen to what you have to say. Just tell me what to do first about attracting less attention, cause it''s not working out so far." Even as he said this, Reed''s visual attention kept zipping to and away some of the other kids at the bus stop, who were somewhat holding similar suspicion of him, as if they might hear his whispers.


    "Just remember to talk with your mind for now." This isn''t going to be easy for either of us. Reed already doesn''t believe I even exist, and the details of my world are so alien to him, this may only make it much worse, but I have to try. It''s also important that I try to prevent him from attracting unusual attention to himself right now; the others cannot know of us. "And there, take that empty seat." With the connection so much stronger now, I could easily see the details through his eyes, even determine the exact point of focus in his center of vision. It was a little strange at first given the quality difference, on top of the fact that he seemed to have better visual quality focus on objects further away than objects closer to his face.


    "Project your voice and your thoughts loudly in your mind. They have to be loud enough in dynamic volume for me to hear them. I can''t visually see anything that you specifically imagine or daydream, but I can hear what you think, if you give those thoughts enough juice." There were some exceptions to my words, but the ability to share day dreams and memories isn''t something I think will happen today. All things considered, the connection isn''t that powerful this time, and it would be too much to explain for now.


    Understood.


    He learns quickly. "Good." I can''t tell how nervous he is right now, or if his calm demeanor is as real as it looks. It was difficult enough trying to keep everything else off my mind right now, all so that I can keep my attention locked entirely through his senses, to phase out my world entirely so that I''m only living through his. I could only imagine what kind of shock me must be in though. To his perspective, all of this should be impossible... He isn''t saying anything either, after so many seconds. "You okay?"


    "Yeah. Hey, I got one question off the top. You can see so clearly through my eyes. So why can''t I see like that through yours? Even earlier, your world never came into full opacity."


    "That transparency effect is part of my view too, but I can view only your world if I shut my eyes. It won''t help you out though. It has to do with connection strength, psionic properties, and shared load variations." I have to be sparse on the details for now, since there is just too much to get into. Right now, the connection strength is moderate. If it becomes much stronger, vigorously strong anyway, then Reed could one day see through my eyes and into my world as easily as he would have breathing, but today isn''t that day.


    "What is all of that supposed to mean?"


    "One question at a time please. I beg of you."


    "Fine!" he grumbled. "How about you start from the beginning then? I heard you mention earlier that you watched over me and several other people. Meaning, I wasn''t the only person in your scopes? Still, I thought telepathy only works on a purged individual."


    At last, I saw an opening to speak from the very beginning of what has happened. Reed was one of four people I watched over, until it all narrowed down on him. "You''re confusing telepathy with clairvoyance."


    "Okay, what is clairvoyance?"


    "Patiently, I will tell you everything you need to know, okay? I know you don''t believe that I exist, but I''ll answer anything you ask."


    "We''ve got some time before we reach school, so start with clairvoyance. Tell me everything."


    "Clairvoyance is different from telepathy. It allows us to watch other people from a third person aerial view no matter what they are up to, from any range, and without their knowledge of being watched. It has many limitations, but most of every Altiri has the ability to use long-range clairvoyance all day long. When it comes to telepathy, we can actually talk to other Altiri without a purge, automatically in fact. Altiri are born with those powers."


    "So that''s what that clair-thingy is?" As cute as it was to see Reed fail to get the name right, I could tell he was trying his best, his mind in deep thought even as he spoke back to me. From this moment, he began to calm down, as did I, hearing his soothing voice echo throughout my mind.


    "Clairvoyance," I corrected. "Like any other psionic sensation, it can be used on any location, regardless of the distance or what might be in the way of an imaginary path between both nodes. That and telepathy are also instantaneous forms of data transmission with no delay or lag... If I wanted to, I could easily watch over someone with a near-aerial view, acquiring all of the visual and acoustical sensations of their immediate environment. It can allow us to build up a best-fit 3-D environmental map of conscious data from their stimuli."


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    Chapter Theme Shift: Mol ~ Connect.Ohm (9980)</a>


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    "Sure... Keep going."


    It doesn''t sound like he understands half of what I''m saying. I''m going to have to make this even easier for anyone to understand... "The thing is, any Altiri can use clairvoyance on any location. And that means, despite how far away we are, no matter what galactic distance we start from¡ª"


    "You can use this clairvoyant spy thing to watch the people of Earth... Doesn''t that mean that the Altiri know our entire human history?"


    I can see why he would think that. "More or less. We discovered AC¡ª Er, I mean, Earth, approximately thirteen thousand years ago, and began more surveillance about two thousand years after, so we didn''t capture the beginning of human history entirely."


    I had to patiently wait in between some of what I said, as I knew he would need time to process some of it. Talking about the past however brought up some more thoughts I kept suppressed earlier, about how I felt that day we discovered Earth, the shock all of us felt, followed by the gut-wrenching feeling we shared when we first learned about the heathens there. "Wait a minute. Back up a bit. What were you going to say just then before cutting yourself off?"


    "Oh that? It''s just the scientific name we''ve given to your celestial object. Earth has the designation ACS414. That then puts the moon at ACS415, and so on." I''m still used to calling Earth - ACS414, but I''m still more amazed that the term ''Earth'' has existed and stuck for so long.


    "Cool..." "Actually, it''s not cool. Why am I even listening to my deluded self?"


    "You promised you would hear me out." At least I know where he still stands on all of this.


    "Fine."


    "You really think you could have just made up every little detail about this on the spot?" It was still tough trying to convince him I exist, for I was finally beginning to put myself in his shoes, trying to imagine how I would feel if I was never aware of aliens for such a long time, only to be hit upside the head with the truth so suddenly, and in such a way where nobody else can corroborate our existence.


    "I apparently had a year, didn''t I?"


    "Maybe. But it seems that even that long wasn''t enough to teach you everything." I have no means to get him to understand that the purge did not do its job entirely; either that or he has a very short memory. The aspect of the purge making him hold slightly positive opinions of us defiantly did not work, and it seems much of the information specific to us is missing as well.


    "I don''t get it. Is this purge signal supposed to be teaching me things?"


    "Yes. The methods are random and come in different variations. For example, most of what you learned about the Altiri prior to you and I connecting to each other today probably happened within your dreams, though other methods exist too. The performance of a purge signal gradually injects information and data related to our experiences, including my own emotions about most important moments of my life."


    "If only school were that easy." It was getting harder to behave my mind with how often he keeps making those random remarks. "Hold on a sec. If that wasn''t really you in my dream, that means the you here right now really is the first time we''ve met at all? Also, I only learned what fragments I did at random. Not all of it made a lot of sense, and I don''t remember other parts of it."


    He should have realized before now that I''m the real deal, though I am curious to know what image he had of me in his dreams. I can''t focus on that though, since this only proves that I was right. "That''s what I meant earlier about something not being right. When I spoke to you this morning, even though I''ve known you a lot longer, this was my first time speaking to you for real. Whatever you saw in a dream was part of the influence from the purge itself, which explains why you would have dreamt about me and my sisters; that much was expected at least. But I swear, the purge signal must have been slowed down or impaired when summer rolled in. You should have already learned a lot more; that''s how it normally works anyway."


    "Can that even happen, a purge signal failing I mean? What even is a purge signal anyway?"


    Why won''t he let me finish speaking?! It took everything in me not to show him any anger, but I couldn''t help stomp my feet a little in response. "If you would stop interrupting me, you would find out!"


    "Sooooooory!" Reed held more sarcasm in his apology than any seriousness, but I had to calm myself first. "Continue then."


    "Anyway, the Altiri Aggressor Groups¡ª"


    "See, there you go again, using terms I don''t understand."


    He really can''t just wait for me to speak! "Fine! I''ll just define everything for you." If he wants to ask about everything, I''ll explain everything, even if it makes him sound like an idiot.


    I mean, it is what I asked.


    I heard that, but I''m not going to let on that I heard him. I can''t tell if I''m being thrown off purely by my desperation to convince him I exist, or if it''s something else about his attitude that keeps agitating me; for now I must ignore it. "Aggressor Groups are code names that we used for specialized orbital fleets. Each fleet consists of a small team of capital ships in outer space for the defense of the planet, who all serve in the Altiri military."


    "You have an Altiri military? Man. Must be a tough world out there in Genosis." See what I mean? He just keeps tossing around random assumptions before I can get a word in. It isn''t me, right? I know I''m not the only one noticing this.


    "As I was saying, our aggressor groups each took their own separate locations to use long range clairvoyance, all for the purpose of finding intelligent alien life. We also hoped to use it to find special resources we may need one day, even though the ACS system was known to be too far for resources."


    "So how did that work out?"


    I''m talking to him right now, yet he''s asking the question? Maybe he meant from a global perspective within our history. "Unfortunately, we soon learned that our clairvoyant abilities won''t work on inanimate objects, dead people, or creatures without enough sensory intelligence to send us that information in echo return data. Our abilities can only affect living creatures, particularly those with a minimum level of psionic capabilities and variant dynamic thought processes."


    "Eventually, you found ACS414, right?"


    At last, he was finally getting with the program, even though he took some time in between his responses. "I personally can''t take credit for finding Earth; that was left up to the Royal Scryers. Still, it was a moment that gave wonder to our entire world. There is something you have to understand Reed. To your perspective, someone like me and the other Altiri are considered aliens to Earth and all life around it. But from our perspective, the way we were examining the human race for the first time, we knew that all of you were aliens to our world too. In a weird manner of context, I can call you the alien, if I''m comparing you to my world." Who is really the alien here? Us Altiri, or the human race? Does it even matter at this point?


    "Okay, fair point. But while we are doing comparisons, which one of us would be more superior to the other?"


    "Which do you think?" I know he has been missing some purge information, but the answer should be obvious by now. Anyone would assume we are the dominant species... Why isn''t he saying anything? Has Reed already figured out the dark rule to telepathy, the rule that implies thoughts can be hidden when not projected with enough energy? I knew about the rule too well, which is why I tried asking myself the question just loudly enough to see if he would address it. Still, it is a bit annoying if he has figured it out already. I can tell his moments of silence are of him thinking, but if that''s true, I should be hearing a lot more from him than I do now. "I don''t like admitting this, but Altiri people appear to be better adapted to our own bodies, and especially adapted to severe cold environments."


    "So you don''t like the heat then? Now that you mentioned it, it is rather cold outside today, more than usual."


    "You really have no idea Reed." I wish that humans could be a bit stronger, strong enough to be born with telepathy on their own, just like us, so that we wouldn''t need the purge in the first place. It would be so much easier than having to rely on so many conditions. "As for heat, we physically cannot handle it. Our bodies can only handle the lower ranges of temperatures. Once we stand in air heated to above sixty degrees, our bodies begin to struggle surviving, while our internal organs begin to liquefy. We die a quick and painful death." It almost happened to me and Junko once, that time when some critical equipment failed, preventing our A/C system from working properly. Heat is deadly to us, and thinking about it makes us squirm.


    "But now I''m getting off topic. Going back to our tracking abilities, information was stills scarce. We weren''t able to track every single person during that era, especially back then. Most of the tribes tried to live in very warm places. It isn''t just our bodies that suffer from the heat Reed. Our own psionic signaling falls apart from heat interference too. Since psionics requires two nodes for targeting, if the human we want to watch is in a warm area, even if we are in a cold area, any ability we throw at them including a purge would never get through. In a way, it produces many dark spots on your planet, places we can''t get our eyes on, and places that we can only see during the cold seasons..." I''m just going to have to accept that I won''t be able to hear every one of his thoughts, but it is only fair, since I can do the same on my terms. "Each aggressor group that tracked a human chose different targets at a time. Most never followed the entire life span of a particular individual. There was freedom and variance to use our ability on everyone, since it didn''t harm or change anything."


    "Wait. If the Altiri have been purging humans for that long¡ª"


    "We haven''t." My immediate correction made him sink down in his seat, which was an interesting reaction I didn''t expect from him. Was he excited to almost prove us right just now? Is he only upset with me because he thinks I''m not real, or is it because of my very own intrusion? "Observing is one thing. Purging is something else entirely. It involves a complicated process for an entire aggressor group, working together to send a very powerful telepathic signal to the selected host body. Very few groups ever use this ability."


    "... People like me?"


    "People like you," I confirmed. Poor Reed; if only someone nearby him had also been purged, we could try and bring them together, despite how tight the queen guards those secrets. In any case, he deserves to know who purged him, since it was a team effort. "Cy-Stars."


    "Cy-what now?"


    "Cy-Stars," I repeated, keeping every one of my sisters in thought as I spoke. "That is the team name to my aggressor group. I''m in the military too, in a leading position. I am the leader of that unit, Lumina."


    "Cy-Stars..." His pondering made me wonder if that name was something he could faintly remember, but his silence told another story, confirming what I already knew about the purge being slightly messed up. I''m very lucky that his purge only got messed up enough to skip out on phase five, and not phase seven, or else I wouldn''t be talking to him at all right now.


    "Right. Only aggressor group leaders are allowed to be the sender nodes of the purge, even though the process requires everyone''s help. So, even though my sisters all pitched in, only you and I can hear each other''s voice like this."


    She mentioned before that purging was a one-time deal. Unless I got that wrong, doesn''t that mean that all of her sisters would pay the same price without the same reward? If that is how it works, that''s kind of sad.


    This was the one time I could hear his passive thoughts meant to evade my ears, but hearing his valid assumption only reminded me again how much my sisters lost in the process. Their loss will be in vain, if I don''t get this right. At least he understands that all of us had to sacrifice together. "Yes it is. Sadly that is how it goes. But still, I could just as easily drag Junko into this room and have her speak directly to me. If she did that, you would hear her through my ears, and it would therefore project in your mind that way, but it may not sound the same or echo like my thoughts will."


    "Okay. That much I get."


    "The purge is a very powerful signal. It needs to be in order to achieve what other abilities cannot. Humans by default don''t have psionic abilities, so we can''t just open a telepathic link with them at will, but the purge changes all of that. We can use it to literally train the human brain how to better use and conserve mental energy to make more room for transmitting psionic energy waves."


    "What are psionic energy waves?"


    "It''s the same kind of energy that you and I are exchanging right now, because of our telepathic connection. Without the purge signal that we sent to you, I could never speak to you right now." There are so many classes on the properties of psionic energy waves alone in our world, inspired by Altiri scientist Herios as her research reluctantly merged with the interests of our queen. Despite this, we still don''t know everything.


    "But... But that means that the purge signal changed me too."


    "You probably experienced emotions that were not exactly your own. I''m afraid the purge easily manipulates the mentality of those who are selected, at least for the duration that the purge remains active. I''m not really a fan of this effect, but it is somehow necessary."


    "So you''re saying I''m not the same Reed anymore?"


    "No, you got it wrong." I wanted to warn him that his assumption here was false, that while the purge did alter his entire personality during its active state, it didn''t make any permanent changes. However, before my words could even register for him, his vocal outburst latched unwanted attention from the others nearby.


    "Dude? What are you talking to?" "He on some shit!"


    Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Reed bounced his forehead against the soft seat in front of him repeatedly, synchronizing his frustration to his personal self-insults. It wasn''t anything I expected coming from someone as quiet and docile as him. "J¡ªjust ignore that," he reported to the random teenager. Is there a briefcase I can slam my face into somewhere?


    "I''m not even going to warn you how awkward you''re being right now."


    "Oh, this is my fault somehow? You''re the one who started this!"


    It doesn''t matter if I started this or not. Reed has what it takes to behave normally; he''s quiet so often that it should come easy to him, the invisible person that most people ignore far too often. "You''re the same Reed you have always been. We have already proven that these personality changes and emotional remapping are absolutely temporary. The effects of the purge die off quickly after the purge''s completion, its seventh phase, which for you started this morning."


    "So you''re saying, for the last year, ever since August 11, 2009, I have not been myself at all?"


    "Well, yes and no. That''s not entirely accurate. You''ve been plenty yourself, but during that time, weird things started happening to you. The process of the purge is never instant, and neither is its data transmission for knowledge of us and the Altiri. It introduces all of these processes gradually over time, cycling between several phases, all while introducing new and rerouting other neurotransmitters to the Cora Sector of the brain. The Cora is pretty much our psionic center, located near the brain stem at the rear-side central core... Based on what should have happened, you would have slowly started to sense things around you that most ordinary people were not able to. All of that was the start of your psionic powers coming alive, like flipping a switch."


    Out of nowhere, Reed stood up from his seat, digging his nails into the leather in front of him, and I could feel his upset so strongly. At first I assumed he was angry at me, angry that I was trying to convince him of my existence without success. Instead, he let me know where his true distress was coming from. "Tell me something, Altiri. All of that longing I felt for the sky for no apparent reason was a result of some thing, not thoughts I came up with on my own?"


    Is that really what bothers him? "My guess is that your feeling towards the stars was part of a strong sense that we Altiri were out there. The purge would have only given you the initial fragment data that the Altiri exist, and on a planet that isn''t anywhere near Earth, but not in a logical manner which would make any sense. The results from that can trigger mental obsession over anything related to this fragment data."


    "And what about the lucid dreams?"


    "Sit down!" The bus driver from up front told Reed off before anyone else could, and he was forced to sit himself down, though I could tell he wasn''t calm anymore.


    "We received several rumored reports from other aggressor groups that claimed their purged targets cycled through lucid dreams frequently. It''s uncommon though, which is kind of cool. However, now that the purge cycle has already completed on you, it will likely never happen again."


    "Lumina? Did you know what I would dream of? My lucid dreams had you and your sisters inside. I got to see what you looked like from the dream itself. I got to talk to you, fight against you, and see the inside of your ship, half of it anyway. Did you know that was going to happen to me from the effects of the purge?"


    Not exactly. It''s rare for lucid dreams to happen from a purge at all, but not impossible... Now I wish I knew what it was like. "What you saw in those dreams, no matter how real it looked was only simulation. And I don''t know what you did in those dreams. I have no way of processing something that happened inside your own mind while asleep, let alone before the purge was finished in the first place. Therefore, I don''t know what happened inside of them. I can only guess that information about us on some level was revealed, as the purge intends to do just that - to all targets touched by its signal. However, I''ve just learned that the learning cycle from a purge can be incomplete, proving to only serve a secondary function..." Did the scryers get it wrong this time? They guaranteed me that phase five of the purge was absolute, but this all proves otherwise.


    "But I saw everyone and their faces so clearly! I could feel the cold and snow on my skin! How could a learning process be that precise?" He really went through such an immersive experience? I''ve heard rumor before that living a lucid dream is a lot like experiencing a whole alternate reality, rather than a dream. Still, I have to put my curiosity aside for now.


    "The purge was never specifically intended to teach its target hosts information about the people who send it, but that is the main side effect. It''s not just the Altiri you learn about Reed. The purge contains fragmented information about myself and all of my sisters who took part in your purge. Since we know each other so well, me and my sisters all have a solid memory of what we look like, a memory that would have leaked into that purge signal. My purge, my thoughts, my personality, my emotional tastes, all of it can affect you."


    "Earlier, I heard you say that the purge was experimental... Is this some kind of experiment?"


    "No, not really. Obviously, the very first purge was an experiment. We didn''t know what would happen, so we relied on data collection back then. Still, only a tiny handful of humans have been purged before, all throughout human history. So, even now, not everything is really known about the purge. There are bound to be things that happen that we do not foresee, and it can happen for several possible reasons."


    "Uhm... Might it explain..." In what I''ve never seen before, Reed went mute on me, not because he was frustrated or upset, but from something else, from some unusual shame he didn''t know how to express... But that can''t be right.


    "Explain what?" Did something abnormal happen from the purge that isn''t in our records?


    "Well... You know!" I really don''t know Reed... I''m going to just sit quietly until he tells me.


    "The girly thing." He really sounded embarrassed just from that phrasing alone, but it bewildered me without any further context.


    The girly thing... What girly thing? Does he mean¡ª "Oh!" The revelation made me gasp aloud, even though I still didn''t believe it at first. I think I''ve put together what he was going on about, though nothing in our lessons ever mentioned this... All knowledge about the purge has no data on the effects of purging male humans, since that isn''t supposed to ever happen in the first place.


    "I guess that was coming from you too? All I could think about sometimes was pretending to be a girl; that I wanted to be so badly. Thanks to that, I developed a feminine side. Was that from the purge as well?"


    "It is..." I could only feel bad for him at this moment. On one hand, I didn''t even know that was a thing that could happen. I felt bad knowing that of all of the behavior alterations to his personality during the purge, suddenly becoming feminine was one of the effects. On the other hand, I was instantly confused, since I''m not exactly like a clich¨¦ feminine girl myself. I mean, I''ve never behaved like that in my life, not as far back as I could remember. Was it coming from one of my sisters instead?


    Oh, wait, I''m forgetting about that factor Saint mentioned, about the fact that such personality alterations can even come from moments in how we used to be, rather than how we are now, so it could really have come from any one of us... Except for me; I''m too cool for glitter and sparkles... Alright, which one of my sisters used to be a cheerleader?!


    "I''m so sorry! I didn''t even think that could happen in the first place. I guess since I''m the host, and you aren''t a girl like me, something like this was bound to happen. It must have come from one of my sisters." I''m not taking direct blame for this.


    "What about that hatred? Anytime I am around any males, I feel obligated to chop their fucking heads off! Uh, see? I still feel that way just a little. Was that sensation your doing as well?"


    Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    This time I can''t deny it, as this sensation is shared between me and every last one of my sisters, especially Hurma. Actually, every Altiri is this way. Heathens are responsible for the death of a million of us, so they deserve every last bit of it. I didn''t know this would also transfer through a purge though. "I''m afraid it was. I know for sure that the purge is responsible for those two developments."


    "Okay, this is getting weird!"


    "Needless to say, you are the very first male human to ever be purged. All twenty three other purged subjects were female, up until this point." I''m amazed that I haven''t been locked in a cellar over this. The Altiri at large are not happy about this moment; it''s the opposite of an achievement for everyone else.


    "So the rest were all girls then?" he asked confused.


    "Let''s sweat the heavy stuff later... Reed? I should have said this a lot sooner, but I''m really sorry if all of this messed everything up with your friends earlier. Now that I think about it, I do feel a lot of responsibility for that. It really is my fault." I''ve been so wrapped up in wanting to ensure Reed wasn''t influenced by any negative behaviors during the purge, that I forgot to consider that the purge itself might also mess up his entire ability to behave normally in front of others. Who knows what social damage this might have done to him? In hindsight, he still hasn''t changed, which is good, but is what I did really okay?


    "Well... No... I mean..." Already bashful, he seemed to accept my apology without saying so... All this did was make me think about him so much more, the proof that he really is a good guy, even if he wants to hide it. I''ve always known from the moment I laid eyes on him... Wait, his awkwardness isn''t because of the lingering feminist feelings, right?


    "What? Don''t tell me you''re still feeling girly right now! I mean, I am a female, so that''s why it happened in the first place. But that strong sensation to be as feminine as possible should fade within a couple more days, as will your montrum to the sky and outer space."


    "Montrum?"


    "Montrum."


    "..."


    Why the silence? He must know that term by now at least... He must...! He doesn''t?! "Oh come on! You humans haven''t figured that one out either?" Even if my own purge didn''t get that through, how is Montrum a word left out of the English dictionary?


    I had no choice but to explain it, since his continued silence meant I had no ground to stand on acting as though he does understand most things. "Montrum has a meaning similar to a repetitive pattern of thoughts, or more like an obsession towards a subject matter, usually an ideal or a non-living object. The montrum itself might be personal, but it simply happens when your thoughts are deeply focused on something. It''s a mental behavior with a specific feeling really, the kind that can be obsessive and addicting."


    "Montrum is how I felt, so..."


    "And your sudden hatred towards men, that feeling of wanting to stab them in the eye with a fork every time one passes you by, that is also coming from me." I can only hope he understands why I feel this way, that he doesn''t hate me for our hostility against heathens.


    "Jesus Lumina! What happened? Killer tendencies towards men? Wait a minute... I''m a man!"


    "It''s an incredibly long story. I''d rather share the important details first, in the proper order." He knows nothing of our history, about Legasso, about the reason why heathens are The Unity''s greatest enemy. I wonder if he even knows what a heathen really is.


    "There''s a proper order to this?!"


    He has me there. I don''t know why I thought this would all go so differently. I somehow got it into my head that Reed would so easily accept our presence and our link. I didn''t think he would oppose our existence so strongly, and to also deny the pull of the montrum he should have held for us. Instead of being amazed to learn there are other aliens out there, he''s scared, either of us or the thought of him losing his own mind. I don''t know where to start anymore, so I''ve been playing this by ear instead. "Honestly, I''m making up this order as I go."


    "What is this, your first purge? Or is this armature hour?"


    Must he be so rude about us? I have to wonder if he is this way towards me because of what he thinks I am, or if I may already be too late. "You still don''t get it, do you?" Sending a purge is an extremely power-demanding process. It requires at least seven different people helping the leader of the sending node during that process to have it send properly."


    "So what happens to those who have less than seven people?"


    His question reminded me of what happened to Aldriah so long ago. Anyone knows that purging without enough people is always fatal. "If attempted without the proper numbers of consecutive assistance, and if done without the proper hydration levels, every person attempting to send or amplify this purge signal not only fail, but they would die right there on the spot. Their death would occur from running out of biological energy while damaging their Cora Sector beyond repair."


    "That sounds harsh." I can''t tell if his tone is one without a care in the world, if it he simply doesn''t understand the implications.


    "Even for those of us who successfully send a purge, it takes out so much of our energy that all involved have to rest, and are rendered powerless for the next two days. That''s not even the worst bit of it."


    "It sounds like you really put everything on the line just for this one purge."


    He really has no idea what we''ve all sacrificed... I won''t tell him about our condition with the queen though. The last thing I want is for Reed to warm up to us out of sympathetic misplaced guilt. Despite what others think, I''m not doing this to keep myself out of trouble with the law. I''m only doing this for Reed. "There are permanent side effects to sending a purge too, side effects that I got to find out firsthand. It happens to all of us who take part in a purge, but I can no longer use my long-range clairvoyance on anyone. Short-range clairvoyance still works for us, but I can''t find out anything with that ability directed at Earth anymore. It hasn''t worked for me since last year. It won''t ever return to us again."


    "So that means you can''t spy on the Earth anymore." Reed returned his gaze to the outdoors again from the view of the window, pondering the specifics of what he has learned so far. "I feel violated you know."


    At the moment, I could care less. Privacy violations will always happen with clairvoyance; it''s just how it works. "It also permanently disables our ability to send another purge ever again."


    "I did want to clarify about that. You''re saying that you only get one purge, one human target to train telepathy to? And once that chance is spent, you are forever stuck with that one target for the rest of your life?"


    "Correct. As you might have guessed, the loss of ability extends to anyone who assisted in sending the purge, amplifying its signal. So, even though you and I are the only ones talking to each other, all of my sisters will never be able to send a purge or use long-range clairvoyance for the rest of their lives either."


    For ten seconds, Reed was dead silent, though I was getting better at detecting when he was deep into thought, despite being unable to read those thoughts. The little tells and signs he used to have are still with him now. "Are you beginning to understand why we Altiri are not so trigger happy to just go purging people left and right? There can only be one purge per aggressor group, and I am the chosen leader for Cy-Star, a decision that can never be undone." Sure, it would be easy to prove our existence to the humans if a higher number of people were purged in the same vicinity, but after what we''ve been through, no aggressor group can be asked to give that up.


    "How important was I for this mission of yours? Why was it so important to put yourself through that much just for my sake?" Funny; he''s beginning to sound like some of my sisters.


    "You are worth more than you realize. Not everyone is like you Reed. There are a lot of flawed people in the world, some of which say or do terrible things, or are incapable of understanding basic qualities of an enriching life. Finding even one human worth purging is a miracle in itself. But you''re a good person, even when most around you are not the same. You''re insightful where others are oblivious..." I held my tongue, torn between what I wanted to say and what I needed to say. I want him to know that I''m always going to be here for him, but he doesn''t want me around, so I don''t know how he''ll take it. Why is it so hard to speak everything I want to now?


    "There are lots of good people in the world too. I may be somewhat unique, but not on such a huge scale."


    "The number is not really as high as you would think." No human knows this, because no human travels the world and lives long enough to see all the bad and all the good. Evil outnumbers good intensions now more than ever. I have seen too much with my clairvoyance, so I know for certain that I am right. There are hidden gems on Earth, but they are too few and far between. Plus, it isn''t only about being a good person, but also having a receptive heart. Even then, so many more start out just fine, only to shape shift into others around them to fit a social need ignored for too long, the very thing I feared Reed would go through. "People change, usually during their first few years of school because of how horrible they are treated. You of all people know what that can feel like, and you know how chaotic any social life can be when you aren''t like other people."


    Reed hesitated for too long, failing to rebuttal my claim, and it''s because we both knew the truth. I''ve seen his struggles. He wasn''t bullied in school, but he wasn''t given any care or attention either, which can be just as damaging. He knows what it''s like to feel alone, and I''ve known that feeling too in my life. That is the reason why I''ve purged him, why I''m here with him now. "I started to worry that you would follow that same pattern, to change the kind of person you are deep down just so that you could fit in better. My sole purpose and reason of purging you was to prevent that from happening."


    It took him a while again to speak, though his caution of thought soothed my nerves a little, since I knew he was at least listening to me on this. "You picked a strange reason to purge somebody." For Lumina, this must be tougher than I previously considered. I mean, you end up wasting this one-time only purge on me just to make sure I don''t change. And at the same time, I can think of you as nothing more than a hallucination...


    Every part of me wanted to scream my feelings into him, to prove to him that I''m not a hallucination, to prove that I''m not wasting my time, but I don''t think that will help me this time. I didn''t interrupt his chain of thought, nor did I let on that I could hear them just yet. Still, she is a rather interesting hallucination. "I''m honestly having a really hard time keeping up with all of this."


    "That''s not surprising. I''m betting on the hopes that I made the right decision. People aren''t purged often."


    "But surely I''m not the first, right?"


    "Nope. The reality is, about one to two subjects are purged every century or so, since the beginning discovery of humanity. The Altiri became very selective on targets once we realized the costs of sending a purge. For everyone else, our mission was only to watch and observe, never to interfere."


    "Because if you interfere, there are consequences, right?"


    Smart and perceptive. All of us knew there would be consequences to pay, even put on those who only stuck to clairvoyance, the pain we felt for others we couldn''t talk to. There are consequences for either choice we make, even if all we do is nothing, and so I''ve made my peace with my choices.


    "If we get attached to a single individual, and then end up purging that person, it changes both of our lives forever." Reed... Even if you never speak to me again, please remember our conversation. Please remember the reason why I reached out to you, so that you can still save yourself from this wretched world of doom.


    "But at the end of the day ¨C for me, my life will remain unchanged."


    How much I wanted to protest! Why now must he be so stubborn? Is a friend from space just too much for him to accept, when he has no friends at all? Why does he fight this so much? I wanted to ask him these questions, but again, I quickly realized that my only choice to get him on our side is to simply reveal to him every truth there is to know. "To put things into perspective for you, there are only about 1,000 Altiri Aggressor Groups. That''s about five thousand or so capital class mark space ships, with two pilots per ship, leading to about ten thousand of us in space. If all of us were to purge at the same time, our maximum target number would be only about 1,000 humans."


    "So you live in those space ships when you are in the military instead of the planet down below?"


    "That''s our job. Our entire fleet is responsible for the total orbital defense designed to repel any potential space invaders." It sounded so cool when The Unity first formed, but now it''s nothing but a cringe slogan. There aren''t any other space aliens out here besides us and humans, and we''re already too far apart to reach each other anyway. The defense has become nothing more than a life style now.


    "So," he implied with blatant curiosity, "did you ever wind up getting invaded?"


    "No, nothing has ever happened like that. I''m glad that our world is safe from outside harm, but it really does make life up here really boring."


    "Boredom, or war... I suppose that could be tough, but then now would be my chance to ask what alien entertainment is like."


    "You must have missed the punch line earlier," I reminded. "We don''t offer any electronic entertainment such as radio-based television or video games. Even so, those of us stuck up here are taught easily how to invoke long-range clairvoyance. Ever since 11,000 years ago, we''ve had an interesting source of entertainment through such a powerful scope. Watching over specific individuals can bring about all kinds of stories and emotional moments for all of us."


    "Just like one big reality TV show, except in this case, none of us are really actors."


    "Stop joking around!" Must he really make light of everything important? Sure, some of the aggressor groups might see it that way, but humans are not toys for us to laugh at. They''re real people just like us, some of them so horrible that they are animals, but others who are true to their soul. Our collective purge wasn''t for nothing, and neither was our surveillance, much less raw entertainment. We may have used our powers out of boredom, but it doesn''t mean we didn''t feel anything each time we did.


    "As I was saying earlier, each aggressor group has an average of ten people in each team. The minimum number to send a purge together is seven people, but nine or ten is preferred since it reduces other risks it puts on us. Even so, that severely limits the number of people we could purge at maximum."


    "What''s the count so far?"


    "The cumulative number so far is barely above twenty. You happen to be the most recent, number twenty-four."


    "So that means..." Reed stopped himself briefly, for reason I knew not of. "Right, most of them would already be dead by now." Ah, so he was trying to see how many were still alive.


    "Yes. I know where you were going with this, and there is something interesting about the purge rates. Lately, the rate of purging humans has skyrocketed for this specific century. Right now as we speak, you and ten other humans who have been purged are still currently alive today. That also means that ten other aggressor groups have been busy. And as much as I would like to, I can''t say who they are or where they are, not the targets or the aggressor groups that are part of it."


    "Now isn''t the time to slap me with the top secret clich¨¦ Lumina. Don''t you realize that by revealing just one of their identities, I can find them, compare notes, and prove to both us what is real and what isn''t real?"


    I know that. Everyone knows that. It is the reason why the queen shrouds so much of our communications into mystery, and the reason none of us are allowed to know which aggressor group is part of a purge, even though our reckless actions have made the Cy-Starts the exception to the rule. "It''s not that I know something and can''t tell you Reed. The problem is, we really don''t know any of their identities. All we know for certain are that ten other females have already been purged in the last twenty years."


    Reed suddenly stood up, looking alive and alert. "So find out then! Damn Lumina! This could have been your one chance to prove to me that your world is real, and you blew it!"


    He really wants to find them that badly? I guess it''s because they could be the proof he would want if they did all come together... "I know, but it isn''t my fault!" I get it Reed, I really do, but this isn''t something I have control over. "In the Altiri military, communication between other aggressor groups is strictly forbidden, even telepathic communication. Those are the rules set in place by the Altiri Queen. She set that rule in place to shield the identity of those who are purged from other aggressor groups. It means your personal identity is safe from everyone else." Of course now, I have to wonder if this rule is really worthwhile. Seems to be more of a hindrance than a support.


    "Well maybe I don''t want my personal identity to be safe from everyone else!"


    "I don''t follow your logic." If everyone knew who Reed was and knew of our new secret, many would be after him!


    Reed calmed himself down and sat again, elaborating what he meant. "I get it, really I do. But just imagine what it would be like if I could find the other ten, even find just one of them. Our shared knowledge of the Altiri would be something incredible! I just know I could be friends with someone like that. And what''s more, wouldn''t the clairvoyance of other aggressor groups be able to snoop on the details anyway? What if another group finds me and determines that I was purged by Cy-Star?"


    "It is possible for other aggressor groups to do that, but they wouldn''t have any leads to go on. Don''t forget that the aggressor groups that already took part in a purge don''t have long-range clairvoyance to their own name, so they wouldn''t be able to directly assist their human subjects with that either." He''s right though. For all we know, many could already be watching the two of us. The queen will shut that down where she can, but the Royal Scryers are also doing the same, under her own rule.


    "Okay, so just bend the rules a little... Or is your queen the kind of person who is more like; ''Off with their heads!''"


    "You''re not funny." Folding my arms in disapproval, I still didn''t fault him for thinking that based on what cartoons he might have seen. I wouldn''t have personally held my great queen with any high regard after what happened, because I was so certain I and my sisters would spend life in a cellar; in fact we still might face such punishment. But that isn''t what happened. The queen, doing something she has never done before, gave all of us a second chance to make things right, a chance to prove that we had a very good reason for our purge, and even though I don''t always agree with the queen on everything, it has to count for something.


    "Eh, worth a shot."


    "You seem surprising calm for someone learning all about a real alien civilization." I imagined something more dramatic and different, maybe a panic attack or a few freak-outs. Is he really this humble even in this situation?


    "The mistake is, you''re the only one who thinks all of this is real. In truth, I don''t know how I''m supposed to feel about it in the first place. I mean, what if it is all real? Would my reaction and mood really be any different, or would montrum take over my mind like before and turn me into a mindless puppet? Whatever the case, I did promise to hear out your entire story."


    "Right..." Never mind that montrums don''t control the mind that strongly, and they are natural, not set in by any particular person. His freak out much earlier was only a result in believing he lost his mind, not because of the subject matter to learn about the Altiri in the first place. Most humans who hear about stuff like this panic a little more, or refuse to remain calm about it. More to the point, he seems more capable of handling massive amounts of information at once than expected. "I don''t know what exactly made this generation of humans so popular for purging season. But one thing to remember is that the reasons for purges are always personal."


    "Personal...? You must really want to be friends with me more than ever..."


    "I do Reed. I want the both of us to be friends, really I do."


    "Or, maybe I really have gone insane from the lack of friends I''ve had for the past month. Maybe I invented someone like you just so that I wouldn''t become crazy. If that is true, look where it got me so far. I never expected far out stories like this to emerge from a false person."


    It doesn''t seem to matter what I say, to convey how much I want to be by his side helping him be better. He thinks I''m an illusion. The only way to get through to him now is by explaining everything else first before asking anything of him. Because despite what the purge did do to him, he is missing so much of the other elements of knowledge that should have come with it. The adaptation process would have been easier if I had that to start with, but that isn''t an option here. "Anyway, that purge inside of you might have given you weird sensations in the past, and it might still continue for a short while, but they will all dial away soon." I have no choice. I have to put aside my own feelings and show him everything there is to know first, so that he has all the context to work with.


    "Does that strange rage attack I had at my dad''s house also have anything to do with the purge?"


    "What strange rage attack? Did something happen to you or your dad?" I''ve studied the purge long enough to know that this can''t be part of the purge, unless his rage was a result of hatred for heathens, but I get the feeling this is something else.


    "No. I mean, my rage wasn''t directed at any specific person, but just anything and everything around me. It wasn''t the normal ''I got upset'' kind of thing... I really don''t know how to describe it properly."


    "I won''t say that is normal. It certainly hasn''t happened before with anyone else we purged..." A strange out of control rage attack? Saint never mentioned it was a possibility, but then this purge has its differences, such as... Oh no! What if the purge did more to him than what was foretold? What if there are bigger side effects for different people? Are the effects different because he is male? He is the first male we''ve ever purged...


    "Why is that by the way?" His question only now made me realize that some of my own worrying thoughts were escaping into the echo of our minds, so I''m sure he heard plenty about that. "Do Altiri people really hate all men? I mean, what do you do with the men in your society?"


    "Uhm..." How is a good way to tell him that we have no men in our world? Talk about an error with the purge. He should have known about this for sure... I don''t want him to think we murdered a bunch of men to have things this way, even though we did have to rid the world of one. Will Reed really understand the significance of it all?


    "What is it?"


    "Well..." There isn''t an easy way to explain this in a manner that he would find plausible, but there is no other way to push this off any longer. He must know this truth too. "I''m guessing this was another thing the purge never did get to show you. For the record, there are no Altiri males in our society. Every last Altiri person is biologically female."


    "Oh shit! You really do hate all men!" Reed began to panic again, tensing his arms and cowering to the window.


    He isn''t entirely wrong on a technicality. However, it has nothing to do with the randomness in why we were all born this way. I never understood it to this very day, why all of us Altiri are female, with exception to Legasso. He must be getting the wrong idea thinking we had more and destroyed them all... If there were to be more, after what Legasso did, we would have wiped them all out, but that isn''t what happened. "No. Please... I mean well... Just shut up for a second and I can explain it!" I didn''t mean to suddenly shout, but Reed''s restless movements were too agitating for me to concentrate. Luckily he took the hint.


    "Altiri women. How do you think they are born in a world without men?"


    How are they born...? I jumped to the conclusion that the Altiri women just killed all of their men. But what if there are no men in their society because there were never any to begin with? Is something like that even possible?


    "Your second assumption is the correct one. It''s all in our biology. Altiri women only birth more Altiri women."


    "But then how do all of you reproduce? Without a sexual experience¡ª"


    "It isn''t sexual," I swiftly corrected. Though it took us too long to learn this, humans reproduce in ways we Altiri never have. It isn''t actually known if sexual reproduction is something we could carry out if the opportunity were present, but that isn''t important right now. "Parthenogenesis."


    "Huh?"


    "It''s a process in which Altiri adults become pregnant without any sexual intercourse. Some people have talked about it on Earth, but they are not totally correct about such a process birthing clones. Nobody here comes out as a clone of their mother. That could have more to do with our genetics, but I''m not the absolute expert on that subject."


    "You mean, it just happens?"


    "Yes," I answered while folding my arms in a stretch. "Always at that same age, one hundred eight."


    "One hundred eight?! How old¡ª" Reed cut himself off, unable to ask the question without undergoing a mental reset. "How old are you Lumina?"


    It figures he would get hung up on that detail. My sisters warned me of this earlier, about humans making a big deal about age where it involves many aspects. "I can tell you my age, but only if you promise not to freak out."


    "You know I can''t promise that. You''ve freaked me out ten times on this bus ride alone."


    That figures. All I could do was inhale with such a loud sign, trying to calm my beating heart. "Three thousand six hundred and sixteen years, and they are mostly comparable to Earth years."


    "Holy smokes!" Predictably, Reed already began to panic and freak out, standing up again while making such a crazy face about the news, his mind replaying the number on repeat. "Three thousand six hundred and sixteen years old?"


    "Don''t you dare call me an old hag!" I could risk going vocal with my voice, since all Altiri know about this, and I used that moment to warn him to never consider insulting me. I may have lived such a long time, but today has proved I have so much left to learn.


    "Three thousand six hundred sixteen..." Is he just going to keep repeating that like it will help? Lumina... How long have you been alive? How does it feel to live countless days without ever experiencing death once? I didn''t bother correcting some of his misassumptions, since this was already enough of a shock, but his silent question made me think on it more...


    How does it feel? I don''t know how it feels. I''ve learned so much that I thought I would one day know everything. However, our long term memory isn''t as good as I would prefer it to be. There''s always so much extra time, I have to find more to do, often is it boring and mind numbing. On top of that, I have died and come back to life with the resurrection technology many times before; all Cy-Stars have. In fact, the queen is the only living Altiri who has never once needed to use the machine.


    "Three thousand six hundred sixteen..."


    I''m technically much older than that, but we all reset out age counter when we are revived, despite not biologically aging downward or losing much of our memory. This simply means it has been three thousand six hundred sixteen since I was last killed. Something about his judgment on me was more embarrassing than I wanted to be, and for reason which made no sense. All I could do was hug my own arms against the cold steel wall I was leaning on. "Well... Yeah. Now you know." We both kept silent thinking about it, mostly myself wondering if he would be terrified or disgusted.


    "Lumina? Go stand in front of your mirror."


    Eh? My mirror? Oh, he must want to see what I look like for my age... Well, here we go. I gently pushed myself off the wall, already in sight of the small mirror we keep in the main room. My environment told me that Junko must have been in the cockpit this whole time with calibration duty... Why does getting near that mirror feel so nerve-wracking right now?


    I couldn''t help feeling this way, though it made no sense as to why. I''ve seen him so often, but I guess, outside of the dream he had, Reed has never actually seen myself in the flesh, and that mirror will allow him to, through my eyes. Despite my hesitations, I did as I was asked, until I was right in front of the mirror, looking down at my feet to give us both some time to prepare ourselves. "I''m ready when you are." I knew it was a lie. I never one thought that humans looked too strange or ugly, but humans more often judge others on appearance, and so who knows how he might see me? I look so different from a human that it is obvious to any visual sight that I am an Altiri. Some other part of me didn''t want him to see, to never know the answer to how he might look at me.


    "Good. Hold still."


    "Wha¡ª but?" What does he mean hold still? By now, my eyes already drifted up to the reflection of myself, but I knew Reed could not see anything just yet. Despite the connection allowing him to see through my eyes, it is much harder for Reed to do so, since he is the weaker node in a more limited version of telepathy. Normally, I would have to do this for him, boosting the connection and altering the concentration of the load so that he can see through to my world in an average connection.


    I finally realized what he meant, what Reed was trying to do. He wouldn''t be able to though. This is only the first connection, and it''s all too new to him to make the load shifting trick work. However, as I gave it a few more seconds, both our perspective visions suddenly flashed and overlapped on each other, causing me to wince back once I knew what was happening, despite how impossible it was.


    Before I knew it, Reed really was seeing through my eyes, and the power of the connection was altered from no input of my own! Impossible! Could the purge have prepared him that well? Is he so adamant on seeing my physical body that he can perform something he isn''t ready for?


    Of course, only now did I realize I was being examined from head to torso. The moment made my eyes bounce around just a little, as it was impossible for me to suddenly concentrate! He''s really looking at me, at every part of me to see what I look like in this small mirror... And there isn''t a way I can stop it, aside from looking away. I kept my gaze to the reflection though, certain I owed this much to him after everything I''ve done... What will he think of me? Will he call me an ugly creature, a pale ghost, a mess of wire and vein? Why is he still so quiet after so long? Say something Reed!


    "I can''t believe it. You don''t look a day older than eighteen."


    "Uh¡ª" His answer sure enough caught me off guard. He really thinks I''m that young? No wait, humans at age eighteen look much older than Altiri do at that age. It''s still not a compliment, or is it? I don''t know what to make of that Reed! "That was nice of you to say, I guess. Of course, I know you mean eighteen by human standards of comparisons."


    "Do Altiri people even age?"


    "Not the same way humans do. That''s the reason my appearance is the way it is. If I were actually eighteen years old, I would look like a little kid. Our age gap starts climbing very fast, but exponentially slows down over time. Over here, an infant can grow up to be three years old but appear to be six. But then, between the appearance age of fifteen and sixteen, the real time frame between that is about two hundred years, and so on. That''s how it goes if you scale by comparative human appearance alone."


    "For all that time living, for all of that time going through life, and yet you look so young, like you are really eighteen, maybe nineteen..." And still so pretty...


    "What?" I jumped unexpectedly. Pretty? He thinks I of all people look good? I... I... I don''t know what to say. No matter how I tried, I couldn''t calm down anymore. My heart was already beating harder than before, and it was suddenly impossible to speak at all... Why do I feel this way? Pretty... That''s what he said.


    "Eh," Reed gripped the seat tightly, suddenly going as quiet as I did, while the both of us just stood there in awkward silence, until he finally unleashed the volley of his own embarrassment. "What did I tell you about reading my thoughts?"


    "Shut up! Nobody is reading your thoughts, weirdo!" Before I could reply, some random kid across the aisle addressed Reed, who again forgot to channel his voice into telepathy.


    It should have been obvious by now that our thoughts can sometimes be shared without us knowing, if we apply just enough power to them during a link. Something came over me just then, an amazing affirmation from what Reed just told me, mixed with the silliness of his own reaction and being caught by another. I couldn''t help but to point at Reed and laugh, this time his mistake to cute and innocent. "What do you think you and I have been doing this whole time? Exchanging notes?" I was barely able to speak in between my soft laughing fit, but it was so amazing I could finally feel this way. "I did warn you three times already."


    "I''m too embarrassed to be on this bus with you. I hope to god nobody here knows me."


    "Haha! You''re so funny sometimes." Reed was blushing like a tomato right now, and for the first time, I felt so much better because of it.


    "My humiliation is not for your amusement."


    "When you do it to yourself, I have no choice but to make it my entertainment."


    "Let''s change the subject... I guess this means all of you have world peace, and no one ever gets sick?"


    "Never-ever. It''s too cold here for most germs to thrive and spread, and our immune systems can handle anything, not that there is much here to handle. Altiri people are very kind to everyone. We don''t go around killing other people or stealing what they have. Nobody picks fights just for the fun of it, and it''s so peaceful here that we don''t have a term in our language that means the same thing as crime. We only learned of that word from your world."


    "Must be nice... How cold is it in your world for bacteria to not survive?"


    "Well right now, me and my sisters are on our ships. It''s much warmer on the ships that it is naturally on our home planet. Our ships have to run a special closed-cycle compression system so that the breathable air in all of the rooms are as cold as possible, even though the difference is quite severe. Using the air conditioning units we have here, the air runs at -70 degrees Nixus."


    "Wait... Nixus?"


    "It''s a bit different, but the unit of measure is still very close to the temperature system of Fahrenheit." It was a strange thing to see the humans come up with Fahrenheit, since it runs so closely to our own measurements, though he Nixus conversion formula is more of a strange parabola that has the highest difference at sixty degrees, based entirely off our ability to survive and also how psionics behaves in different temperature zones.


    "Okay, so then it isn''t exactly the same when converted, but it''s still close to -70 Fahrenheit? That''s still really cold!"


    He''s only saying that because humans can''t seem to handle extreme heat or extreme cold. Some even think sixty is freezing, which is ridiculous! "It might sound cold, but keep in mind that the surface of Karnak is -360 degrees Nixus. That''s -301 in Fahrenheit since you don''t have the conversion formula yet."


    "How do you even live with that temperature?!"


    "Oh, it''s awesome! That feeling of fresh cool air on my skin, it can''t compare to being cooped up here. It feels amazing! I really miss it sometimes." It''s how we are. The colder the air is on us, the better we feel. I''m sure there must be some limitation, but we have yet to reach it.


    "You all need that cold just to survive. But doesn''t the air freeze at that temperature?"


    "Surprisingly, no. The air might be thinner, but we can breathe it just fine. Most of what we breathe in is a mixture of oxygen and nitrogen, but there are other elements in our air too, different from the air you breathe on earth." Come to think of it, maybe air is supposed to freeze in that environment, depending on which elements are comprised in the atmosphere. Does the air freeze like that on Earth and not on Karnak?


    "I figured that much..." Reed seemed to be so hung up on this detail, for reasons I didn''t know why. "Tell me again what happens to you if you walk into the heat."


    "It isn''t pretty. Any temperature above fifty becomes toxic to our bodies. A temperature of above sixty has fatal effects within just a few seconds. Our lungs are usually the first to stop working. It doesn''t usually get warm anywhere out here, never on Karnak. But on these space ships, even though space itself has an absence of heat, some of the internal components of our capital ships can produce heat both inside and outside the ship within certain areas, especially during a rare accident."


    "Damn. That means you could never live here."


    Is he forgetting about the Antarctic zone? The Earth would be hostile to us in many areas, but not in all of the zones. "On top of that, all psionic transmissions work the same way. Our ability to project signals works much better in the cold ¨C to an area of affect in a 1 mile radius. Understand what that means. If it suddenly warms up outside in your area, our communication will be cut off automatically, no matter how much either of us want it to stay. If that happens, there won''t be a thing either one of us could do about it."


    "That''s interesting. So the heat can disrupt psionic communication. It probably isn''t just telepathy either, but something that would mess with any form of psionic power coming from a person acting as a node... Whoa! I''m starting to sound like you now!"


    It doesn''t surprise me that Reed would start picking up our language more than before, but I am still amazed to see he is keeping up so well and quick.


    "In time Reed, I think that will happen more often. The more you learn from me, the smarter you will become."


    "How intelligent are you, compared to me at least?"


    "I would have to assume I''m far more intelligent than you when it comes to the stuff I already know. However, I''m going to let you decide that for yourself."


    "Okay...?"


    Where should I go from here? I have to keep him engaged on the subject of everything, so that he fully understands what kind of person I am. Maybe, he''ll trust me if he knows more. "Want to know more about the benefits of having an Altiri body?"


    "You''re really just trying to make me jealous, aren''t you?" Maybe just a little. I was about to tease him about it some more, when I suddenly heard lots of noise around him. "Oh. It''s time to get off the bus. Sorry Lumina, but this is where school starts."


    So his school is right here? I''m glad I was able to follow him to it. Since this is Reed''s first time in middle school, I really would not have known where to look to ever find him again without directly tracking the movements of the bus, disregarding the fact that I can''t use clairvoyance anymore to check. Even so, I''ve never seen the inside of a school with such clarity and detail, up close and personal. Hiding my excitement to the fact was already impossible. "Awesome! I get to see what the inside of your middle school is like!"


    With instant disdain, Reed shut down the suggestion faster than he''s ever done anything before. "Out of the question! I''m doing this solo. No weirdness for the rest of the day." He picked up his own backpack, standing up just as the bus door was swinging open, letting in the fresh air mixed with scents I would never be able to detect.


    However, I wasn''t giving up without a fight. Besides, he has a promise to keep to me too. "But you promised you would hear me out until the day''s end!"


    "How much more is there for you to tell exactly? I think I can paint a picture already."


    "You can''t possibly learn it all in one full day Reed. There''s loads more to tell. And it''s not just about my world. I want you to tell me more about your world too!"


    "Don''t you know everything already?"


    Why would he think that? I still don''t know everything there is to know in human culture, and I''m already learning so many new things from this very telepathic connection alone, mostly from what I can see in the others around him, through Reed''s senses. Unlike him, I''ve been paying attention today. "There are things about Earth that I don''t know, things that clairvoyance cannot teach us. I''ve never seen your middle school before either. When we decided to purge you, it happened on the day close to your first day of attendance. But because of our purge, none of us could track you within the school using clairvoyance anymore. I only ever recall seeing you in Ovlar and Bereaton Elementary school." This isn''t good enough. I need him to trust me more, but how...? "Besides, if you don''t keep your end of the deal, I''ll just distract you on purpose."


    "You wouldn''t!"


    "You think I wouldn''t? Did you forget that you don''t know how to shut down a connection on your own just yet? I won''t just leave so easily." I''m not giving up yet. I know I said I would make sure Reed doesn''t stand out, but people learning about us wouldn''t matter anyway if he cuts us off at the end of the day. I''m going to get him to hear me out, or else annoy him until he does.


    "Look, Lumina. There isn''t much more for either of us to learn here. I''m already understanding how telepathy works enough. We share not only thoughts, but sensory details too. I can already imagine how this must look from your angle, seeing through my eyes, hearing through my ears, and¡ª"


    I was about to shut him up, refusing to accept his ignorance just as Reed was exiting from the bus. Instead, the kid took a tumble to the pavement, and next thing I knew, the blast to my chest took over everything else I was feeling, so much that I instantly lost sight of his visuals and was pushed to the floor in agonizing pain! "IIiiiieeeee! That hurts me too you idiot!" Ouch! I didn''t think that was still possible. Why does falling to the floor hurt so much?! In all the times I''ve ever tripped to ground here, it''s never been half as painful as this! Are humans really this weak? Are their skins made out of jelly?


    "Stop yelling! I''m sorry!" Reed was in the depths of pain too, but he put on a brave show in front of the others, who were rudely pointing and laughing at his misstep. I could tell he wanted to scream and chant every curse word in the book, though he resisted against all odds. "How do you think my ribs feel? It''s not as if you actually take the physical damage..." Does it matter if I take the damage or not? I still feel every intense physical sensation he does from this connection. It was bad enough to have to go through it once. "Right? Right?!"


    Shut up already Reed! "I guess this proves I''m the more intelligent one after all."


    Reed stood up aggressively, turning around and up to the sky, eye on me. "Yeah? Well you can go shove that intelligence up your ass!"


    What did he just say to me?!


    "Wha¡ª Reed?" Before I could unleash a mallet of insults on him, the both of us became aware of the girl who walked up to Reed, confused from his insane chant, which I didn''t bother to defend, since he deserved it. "Were you just talking to someone from the bus?"


    "No, no, and no!" Reed didn''t shout or yell, but his words were firm. The way he spoke to this girl made me suspicious that she was someone he already knew.


    "Huh?" The girl was totally confused, and I kept quiet to watch what would happen.


    "No, I do not want to sit with you and Malica today. No, I do not want to sit next to Maddison and your other weird friends who don''t care whether I''m left out of the group anyway. And no, I''m not going to give you a different answer about how I''m doing."


    The girl then tsked her tongue before walking away, clearly upset, as Reed continued to dust himself off. "Whatever then."


    "Huh. That was actually kind of rude... Did something happen?" I was sure something happened, but I''m the newest student at this school now. I knew already that Reed would be in grade seven instead of grade six, where middle school begins in grade six. The thing is, we purged Reed shortly before he would have started grade six, which is why I''ve known nothing about his middle school life since that time. He has had an entire school year to make things happen by himself, all of which are details I know nothing about. Unlike before, he clearly knows some people... So why the hostility then?


    "Lumina? This isn''t going to work. I can''t keep you in my head like this and focus on my classes at the same time. I won''t even be able to hide your presence either. I can project my thoughts quietly if I get used to it, but I can''t control the expressions I might make without thinking about it."


    "Don''t make a big deal out of it. Since when did you care about what others thought of you anyway?" I knew already that he did care; everybody cares about what others think about them, to an extent at least. Reed''s best strength is that he only weighs the values that are important; character above appearance and morality above popularity. Even so, I know that some of those other things dig into us, just a bit. Maybe all he needs right now is the right encouragement. "You''ve got this! All you have to do is remember to talk to me with your mind and not with your mouth. The others won''t even pay you any attention, I promise that."


    With my promise made, Reed slowly walked towards the side entrance of the school where others were going into, as I impatiently awaited to see the inside of an actual school with so much added detail, detail that clairvoyance leaves out too much. I know I have my own mission to worry about, but I just can''t help but get all excited inside! Onward march Reed!

 Chapter 020: Beyond Worlds

    <hr>


    <11/01/149,566 {Avion 148} - 08:17 | Corral Position, Genosis, Altiri Sector Space>


    <Karnak to ACS414 Date Equivalent: 11/01/2010>


    <Telepathic Link: Established | Telepathic Strength: Moderate ~ {47<sup>o</sup>N}>


    Trying to concentrate on this moment only became more difficult, as the crowds of people and the hallway walls were so much to take in with this new level of detail. Reed was going through the halls of his school, and I was taken along for the ride, observing every sight and sound around me, overwhelmed with the sensory overload of this alien world. There''s always so much more to see here than there is in my world, inside of buildings and outside with nature.


    My mind was also more alert than ever before, my eagerness to amass more knowledge of this place consuming. I didn''t let onto Reed that I was so taken away by the environment around us, as I wasn''t sure what he would think if I become too excited about something he was used to seeing daily. Even so, he seemed distracted and anxious about the idea of having me hang around, which wasn''t necessary.


    Reed''s eyes shifted around so much, so I got to see even more about the school, the good and the bad. The windows gave amazing sights to the outdoors, with subtle and shallow forests surrounding the place, but the ceiling tiles looked dirty with dust, the floors ruined with whatever the hundreds of shoes tracked onto them. The people all round Reed weren''t looking at him strangely, but Reed might as well have been acting suspicious with his nervousness on full display. Doesn''t he understand that I can''t be heard or seen by others? There isn''t a need to panic.


    I ignored his behavior for now, keeping quiet to take in more around me. The cramped halls were unfortunately loud and somewhat annoying, so I focused mostly on the outfits everybody else was wearing. Again, clairvoyance never allowed me to see everything so closely for a prolonged sustained duration, not with this level of detail. Now that I think back to it, it was almost comparable to seeing through a thin veil or fog, as if some sort of blanket of soft darkness cut down the flow of light around our third eye.


    I know I''ve discounted the detail difference between Human sight and Altiri sight; even so, either occulation is still sharper than clairvoyant sight, far more defined and flamboyant. The outfits were particularly interesting, since we see so many different variations of styles all the time.


    Eventually, Reed got into his classroom, us both keeping quiet while I let him pan around the room randomly, learning more about this mysterious learning environment. Despite all I''ve seen in life, this somehow felt too exciting!


    Reed is awfully quiet though. I wonder if what happened earlier outside the bus area is still on his nerves... It was a most interesting display to me, how he could be so hostile to another person like that. It didn''t exactly look random, and I''m certain there must be a reason for that. I know Reed, enough to know he never speaks to women like that, not without some reason. There''s only one way to find out. "So... Who was that person you ran into today?"


    "It''s a long story, one that happened over the summer..." Reed didn''t seem to go any further than that, but at least I could be assured that there was something personal about those two after all. I can''t wait to find out what all I missed in my own absences, though before I could try to elaborate, Reed changed the subject quickly. "You know what? Now that I think about it, all of that weirdness I was having, with the girly sensation and the montrums, it all kind of faded away during that summer, even though it came back much later."


    So the purge was suppressed after all! Still, once something like that happens, a purge usually dies and fails. "I''m not surprised." It only makes perfect sense. When the environment of a human goes up with a purge in progress, that heat can suppress and pause the purge. However, when this happens for long enough, that excessive pause normally leads to a total failure. The purge does have an unspoken time limit it has to do its job in, its energy finite. "Actually, I am surprised that the purge survived that duration of heat." I''ve heard rumor before about purges that failed under those exact circumstances, only twice, which is why aggressor groups avoid places like Georgia and Texas as much as possible.


    "So heat can destroy a purge as well?"


    I answered Reed''s question with a boring repeated lecture that I had to learn from Saint, based on those two rumors, and I told him about how the purge can fail if suppressed by heat for a long enough time. As I explained it to him though, it made me question whether or not this summer break was the very reason for why the purge didn''t do its job quite right, particularly on the information phase. Maybe, because the information is not a vital component to the completion of a purge, this is the only reason why it didn''t fail in him, because the other phases kicked in first and protected the rest of the process. Maybe the only component to the purge which was messed up was the information phase. It sure would explain the hell out of some things.


    "What happens if a purge fails?"


    "Then nothing happens. I mean, you literally just go back to being your old self, moving on with life as if nothing had ever happened. Yeah, the strange effects brought on by the purge would have still occurred, and the target would probably learn something about the Altiri, but without a completion to explain that those details all mean anything, the target would just dismiss it as random daydreams or something. If your purge had failed, all of the weirdness you had would have just been vague memory, and then I never would have met you. Since our ability loss from sending a purge is permanent, I would have totally wasted that for nothing in return."


    "The purge really survived all that time? I was free from its clutches during the summer, only for it to return to me in September."


    So the purge resumed itself in September of 2010? That means there was still some time for more phases to complete, between then and the end of October. "It''s not totally uncommon for a purge to survive a long duration of earthbound heat like that. But still, I''d say you are currently holding the new record for how long yours did manage to survive given how long that summer would have been." The record for the longest purge is about two years, but that particular purge had no significant summer heat issues like his did. Simply amazing! There were so many potential points of failure for my purge, yet it still succeeded anyway. "I''m as surprised as you. I received reports about the climate in that region from some of my other friends, and I feared the worse."


    It made me so glad that I was with Reed now, despite the fact that he still doesn''t trust me. I''m responsible for all the strange things he did while purged; I cannot deny blame in that. As class went on for fifteen minutes, silent between us, it gave me more time to think about it, reaffirming my prior choice in letting Reed know everything there is to know about the Altiri. I''m going to have to trust him before he can trust me.


    Of course, the lesson I thought would be interesting was somehow more boring than times I''ve sat in the cockpit doing nothing at all. I thought learning something new would be interesting, but I had to hand it to this teacher for finding a way to make something to dull. Is this really what they teach kids these days? People don''t learn well by citing pages of some moldy textbook.


    It was a rather long time of this, and I wanted to interrupt, but I instead chose to endure. If I interrupt him now, Reed will only get mad at me. I do intend to make sure he learns everything, but I need a better way to start over again. Yet before I knew it, Reed let his sudden agitation show, having hidden his pain from us both until now.


    "Okay, fine! You win. I can''t take it anymore. If this guy wanted to get me to pay attention to every minute of this lecture, he should have made it more interesting."


    I found his phrasing curious, to say that ''I won,'' as though I was putting him up to a challenge. I was simply giving us both time to think, but apparently he was trying to learn... I can''t blame him for feeling this way; I wouldn''t last a few minutes with that monotone lesson myself. Still, was he trying to bore me away intentionally, as if that would work? "You did that on purpose, didn''t you?"


    "I''ll just figure the rest out later. I still have to get through my day somehow or another."


    "When will you learn that it''s rude to ignore a girl?"


    "Maybe when you learn that invading my life was rude on its own premise... But whatever."


    I sighed again, feeling as though I was brought back to square one. He isn''t totally wrong. I did invade his life, in every aspect for that matter, but I did this for his own benefit, for this very reason! I''ve seen others suffer in similar ways he has, people who desperately need friends they can call their own, and who cry out for them in all sorts of ways, never getting what they need in return. Human nature is to require social interaction, but there are many who are more sensitive to this need than others. Reed has been this way too, so why must he try to kick out the only one who will care about him now? Is there something I''m not seeing?


    Bending myself into a knot wasn''t helping, so I tried to just stay calm and be myself for now. Reed asked me some specifics about the purge process and how long it usually takes, with the shortest time being two weeks, and the average being about 9 months or so, give or take. That average changes each time there is a new purge, so who knows anymore? Not long after, Reed returned to a subject that I thought was previously closed.


    "So about those who were purged..."


    "You know I can''t tell you their names or identities." I wasn''t really happy to tell him that, knowing how badly he wants to meet the other ten, only to not be able to give him anything. "It''s not that I don''t want to, or that some law is stopping me from telling you. It''s a matter of sharing what I do and don''t know. The communication ban really makes it impossible to get exact details."


    "Then what about those who have already come to pass? Surely their information would not be classified as top secret anymore if they are not still alive to talk about it."


    Yeah, well Reed has a lot to learn about how my world works. The details of such people do get released, eventually, but only after 100-200 years, just to ensure no human of the next generation can dig up the info about it, and even then, sometimes that info is kept out much longer. It honestly isn''t fair, this crazy game the Royal Scryers keep playing with all their secrets. However, I''m no longer in any position of weight to say anything about it. At this point, all of those scryers want my head on a plate. The queen wasn''t exactly held in such great light with her decision to conditionally pardon us...


    When did we get to this point anyway? We used to be such a powerful and well-connected unity, but many of us keep being divided these days. Why does our involvement with ACS414 have to involve so many shields to truth and cover-ups? Why can''t we work together as a whole unity and make these purges better? I wish somebody would answer these questions for me, because Reed isn''t the only one with disdain to the prospect, even though he understands this much less than I do. "Their information eventually does get released to the Altiri public officially, but not until 100 years pass from their time of death, sometimes two hundred, sometimes longer."


    "It sounds to me like this queen really wants to make sure two people on Earth purged at the same time cannot meet each other in person."


    He''s not wrong. What I''ve never understood was the reason for that policy. The queen has done everything she can to go out of her way in making sure two purged humans never-ever meet up together, even going as far as to try and prohibit these same humans from speaking the truth about us to others around them in their own world. I''ve asked Reed to keep all of this a secret, but not for the same reasons. There may come a day where he can find another human to trust this secret to, but I doubt he will find it in a school of immature teenagers. "I''m sorry Reed. That''s just the way it is."


    "Right..."


    "I''m here for you too you know. Even though you don''t believe I exist, I''m not lying when I tell you I''m doing this so that you can have at least one friend in life, one person to talk to..."


    Reed didn''t respond to my offer though. He chose to ignore it entirely with silence and trance, about what - I don''t know. He got a lot better in the last hour with silencing his own internal thought processes, as have I, but the situation didn''t exactly put me at ease. His eye movements were so much slower now, his body slump and his arms lazy, indicative of an expression I''ve seen in him before from the clairvoyance. I can only wonder if his growing depression is that regarding friendship or something else, and for now, I didn''t ask.


    He spoke up on his own eventually, asking once more about the purge, in the instance that it may fail, not only from physical failure, but rather from a rejection to the target node, a rejection to the aggressor group leader that purges them. I presumed from which, Reed wanted assurance that regardless of his faith in my existence, he still has to make the final choice by day''s end, and I made sure he had such a choice.


    Even though he cared not, I couldn''t hide my worries and fears from him, about the idea that he may never call me back ever again after tonight. I wondered then if I should just quit and give up, despite fighting like hell to hang in there. Reed then changed the subject slightly to asking whether others such as parental figures found out about some of these people.


    I told him the truth, where it regarded the very few cases when it did happen. They weren''t pretty stories. The mom and dad of any child who hears their own explain to them about Altiri aliens with telepathy, well, it isn''t hard to imagine how that might look. Three times has it happened before, one leading to medications and later suicide, another leading directly to suicide and severance from the aggressor group, and a third instance leading to acceptance for the situation with a detachment from their family.


    There is another reason why I want Reed to keep this to himself, and this is part of that reason. Those mental institution facilities they have are awful! They make certain prisons look like a day spa! I won''t ever have him going into one of those facilities, ever. I''ll give everything I am to make sure he doesn''t wind up in that place, no matter what. If other humans around him find out, it would be bad, but if his parents discover this secret, it will be a total nightmare.


    Not long after I explained the stories of the others to him, Reed was quick to tighten a knot in his stomach, bringing about a new worry. "I''m sorry. That story was a little too graphic."


    "It''s fine," he replied. "I just had no idea that others who were purged could have it so rough. And here I was thinking I had the worst luck. But the truth is, I''m not special from everyone else."


    Why does he always do that? For as long as I''ve known Reed, it didn''t take anything to understand that he''s always so hard on himself, but why does he keep thinking he''s below average, that he isn''t special? I know what I saw in him from day one, such incredible skill of the mind, such insight into the world and people around him. "To be fair, you are not that special to the Altiri world. However, you are special to us, to the Cy-Stars, and to me." My voice weakened to a broken whisper in my last admission. I knew I wasn''t wrong; Reed really does mean everything to me, even if I have become too attached. I can''t help it, but I won''t be put down by these feeling either.


    "You and the Cy-Stars actually care about me. But what I can''t understand is why..." His demands for answers had me in demands for the same questions. It isn''t something I found easy to explain, even to myself. I''ve been attached to Reed for a while now; this much isn''t news... But for some reason, every time I''m with him or think about him, everything just feels so intense! It doesn''t make any sense, but it''s also the only thing I want to focus on, the only thing I want to be real and true. "I''m only fourteen years old Lumina! Why does everyone get purged so young? Or am I a special case on that detail too?"


    "There is a good reason," I stifled with some pause. I know the reason, but is it something I can really tell him? He won''t seem to accept that I want to be a friend to him, or that I did this to prevent him from changing into a heathen. The truth is, my care for him is far greater than he''ll ever know, even stronger than I thought it was, and I don''t know why. Instead of telling him all in my heart, I diverted to a stupid technical answer instead, a truth within a deflection. "It mainly has to do with psionic potential and how close it is to one''s peaking period. In the beginning, we knew far less about the purge and about psionics than we understand now. So the first patch of humans who were purged were fully fledged adults. What we ended up discovering more recently was the fact that purges put on a younger person are far more effective than one put on an older person. A person''s psionic potential peaks at their age of adolescence, never before or after. Once that peaking period is over, their potential gradually gets weaker after they turn eighteen or nineteen."


    "So right now, because of my age, I''m considered to me at my peak telepathic condition?"


    "It''s far more complicated than that. The peaking phase of a psionically active person can happen at any age during adolescence, but once someone passes the age of ten, they are physically capable of receiving a purge. So this peaking effect happens early on and gradually rises up to a point only to level off again later in life. I don''t think you have hit your peaking period yet. Once you do, you will know it." The more I kept speaking on this, the worse this sensation in my stomach became, some strange sensation of gravity I couldn''t familiarize myself to, with my breathing becoming heavier too. My answer to him might have been correct, but it was also total Hogwash. All I can think about in the background is talking to Reed, every single minute of every single day, as if I''m becoming addicted to the very idea of our communications.


    "Then explain to me what this weird buzzing feeling is in the back of my head. It''s as if I can detect the energy we''re using itself, which shouldn''t be possible."


    "What you are feeling is the difference in psionic load handling between us."


    "How much is there to this?"


    At the very least, I tried to focus on the technical aspects of psionics where I knew them best, going through my initial plan to teach Reed everything and nothing else. Talking about it began to calm me down, ever so slightly at least. "When two people like us are telepathically connected, we start sharing psionic energy between each other, which similarly shares the load of our mental energy as time goes by. At the present moment, you are actually handling far more psionic energy than you would normally be capable of on your own, but that''s only because you are receiving a lot of that energy from myself at the same time through the connection. Even so, because humans have a much lower potential for psionic capabilities than Altiri even after a purge, I''m the one handling a much larger proportion of that psionic load. It''s faster to just say that I''m the stronger node while you are the weaker node. Even so, we''re transferring both energy and information at the same time at speeds far greater than any other energy source in the entire universe. So you might feel a slight buzz or some other weird sensation, but all it really does is prove to you that you and I are connected to each other with this powerful sixth sense."


    Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    "So, I''m guessing when it comes to telepathy between one human and another human..."


    "It isn''t physically possible. The energy requirements for telepathy are just that high. Since Altiri people far exceed the minimum requirements, it gives us the ability to use telepathy with other Altiri without effort. When it comes to us and another human, we still need an extra push, that being the purge. But even if two humans who were already purged tried to use telepathy between each other, it would never-ever work. All humans just don''t have the minimum mental energy and psionic potential to make that happen no matter how much training is given." The actual psionic load in our connection averages in such a way where 60% of the load is on me and 40% of the load is on him. This combination has the best connection stability and energy maintenance rate. I doubt he will understand this though.


    <hr>


    Chapter Theme Shift: Moonlight Trails ~ VPG (Wind of Spring)</a>


    <hr>


    Reed and I sat in silence then, letting another solid minute go by, his thoughts his own, and my thoughts mine. Every minute passing was another test of my own patience, wishing I could finally convince him to keep me around, but I knew I had no grounds to argue right now. Despite our telepathic link, our minds were still so far apart, so unreachable.


    Reed then went for his bag, rummaging around until he opened a notebook of sketches, turning the pages until he landed on a particular section that stood out from the rest. Even from a quick glance, I knew what that marking was in the notebook, the triangle of our allegiance. "Ah. I see that got to you too." At least the purge was good for something, though this is always something they do so early in.


    "What, all of these triangles? I remember obsessing over getting the exact measurements right, and eventually I did."


    "That''s the eye of The Unity; the symbol of the Altiri." I wore the emblem proudly, right on the top of my right and left hand, using branding technology with permanent glowing ink, marking myself with the tattoo willingly, even though it was installed so long ago.


    "I remember being obsessed with this thing for the longest time. Did the purge do that too?"


    "Yes. The purge can manifest in different ways depending on who gets purged, but every single person who does becomes obsessed with drawing that symbol."


    "Was there ever a time where your experiments didn''t work out the way they expected?"


    I wish he would quit referring to these purges as experiments. The queen may see them as a tool, and the Royal Scryers see them as experimental processes, but this isn''t about some scientific endeavor, not for me Reed, never. Still, I told him all about the few times such things have gone wrong, aside from the already mentioned rejections from humans. There was one time the heavy administration allowed for three aggressor groups to purge the same target all at once. The purge failed of course, but phase five did activate within this supposed human, of which, most significantly, our music was leaked through, with some of our influence as well.


    The specifics of our conversations were a bit long winded, but I had to make them so, since he had such a hard time understanding them otherwise. Still, I realized then that I was at least getting a little bit further with him every step of the way. Reed is beginning to ask some questions on his own now, his curiosity of our world rising. I''d rather not rely on the temptation of montrum to get on his good side, but if that''s the way he wants to pursue everything, I won''t stop him either.


    Eventually, the class bell rang, which turned out to be a signal for all students to transition from one type of class structure to the next. Reed made short comment before getting up to move out, until he was in his second class of the day, math. "I feel like I''ve just about heard it all. But somehow, I just know I haven''t."


    <11/01/149,566 {Avion 148} - 09:05 | Corral Position, Genosis, Altiri Sector Space>


    <Karnak to ACS414 Date Equivalent: 11/01/2010>


    <Telepathic Link: Established | Telepathic Strength: Moderate ~ {45<sup>o</sup>N}>


    By the time math begun, the both of us were a little more anxious than before, with Reed full of mental energy from the awakening of his new mind, and me from the uncertainty in all I''ve yet to achieve. Despite our rapid minds, Reed still managed to display such humbleness in his relaxed state, as he took an empty seat to the middle of the classroom, letting his eyes drift around towards a certain corner.


    "So tell me more about this Malica chick."


    Reed let out an annoyed sigh before addressing my random topic. "Here I thought we could have a nice and peaceful silent hour of math, but you keep killing the mood."


    The fact that it can kill his mood says a lot on its face. I don''t know anything about Malica, aside from a single mention to that name when Reed was telling that other girl off earlier. Whoever the person was must have been a friend of Malica, and thereby an enemy for Reed by shared association. Of course, I''m in the dark about this, and should ask more before helping him with this. Also, I''m a little curious, because I happen to have a friend in the Stryders with the same name. "I just want to know what happened. I got the impression that she ticked you off somehow." Just by reminding him about her name, I felt Reed''s wrist tighten, as if he might punch a hole into the desk.


    "Fine, I''ll start from the beginning."


    "Go ahead." I was more than willing to wait and hear all about this story, but I changed my position around in the meantime, going from the main room to the cockpit, so that I may take a seat, nodding to Junko that she''s doing an amazing job. I might be able to help her run the subsystems check once more while passively listening to Reed, if I can divide my focus properly.


    "It was last summer. Malica was always a cute one, but one day, she asked me out, and I said yes."


    "Awwwwwh! That''s so cute!" I didn''t know Reed managed to find time for dating... Wait a minute, that''s really a bigger deal than it sounds. Reed, as shy as he is went out with someone?!


    "Shut up," he retorted without anger. "We went out during summer. But for the most part, it was just cell phone communication."


    Without knowing why, the words just slipped out of me, my tone fake to emphasize the blessing of his achievements. "She asked you out?" It''s a good thing. Reed having anyone ask him out is rare, only because he doesn''t talk to people often enough.


    "Why does that surprise you?"


    At last, I regained some of my seriousness, reminding him of his own personality flaws. "I don''t know Reed. You were the one who kept telling yourself how unpopular you are. You even tried to tell me you were a loser. So I guess I am just a little surprised that something came up to negate your pessimism."


    "Well... Maybe the whole girly phase I went through wasn''t for the worst." Wait, what? "It did make me more interesting to some of the girls I sat with, at least for a while. I''m beginning to think that was the sole reason I popped up on anyone''s radar in the first place."


    No, that''s not how it works... It can''t be the reason she asked Reed out. Then again, I don''t know this Malica at all; maybe she''s only into femboys. "I don''t know if it was really for the best. After all, you two didn''t stay together."


    "Tsk! After we broke up, I just became a walking clich¨¦. I went a little overboard and reacted too much, but I really was upset." I can only imagine, but I''m sure it isn''t difficult to envision how that must have looked. I''ve seen enough breakups happen through clairvoyance to know how bitter people are to each other afterwards. Going back to platonic friendship usually doesn''t happen, and it''s always the reason broken couples avoid each other so much right after. "But what happened? She just decided to give it up?"


    "She cheated on me with another guy." Reed paused after his first statement, only to allow the news to sink in more. "Still think she is cute now?"


    I couldn''t respond immediately, since a lot went through my mind at once. She cheated on him? I know they were dating, but Reed is still very young, and I would imagine Malica to be even younger. What does cheating in an underdeveloped relationship even look like? I have to ask for my own sake. "How far did you two take this relationship?"


    I could feel already that my wording slightly offended him, which means I was getting the wrong idea already, thankfully. "We didn''t even hold hands that often. We just talked with each other a lot. I never kissed her, not because I didn''t want to. I''m just not very good with that kind of stuff. Besides, she''s younger than I am, so I didn''t want to be an ass about it."


    "Hoooooh." It''s an honorable enough reason. So often do heathens prioritize their sexual advances onto other woman, be it something as simple as kissing or something more complicated. I knew Reed was the gentleman I trusted him to be.


    "But now, I''m really glad that I didn''t go any further. My mind was starting to go there towards the end."


    I suddenly feel bad for asking about this. A lot of repressed depression began to wash over me as he kept talking about her, the breakup phase clearly far from over... I''ve never been in the position before, so this time, I wouldn''t know how to help him with something like this. "Okay," I confirmed. "So she dumped you for someone else more attractive?" It''s mostly the reason why women on Earth cheat, I think.


    "Not even!" he disclaimed, offended at the very thought. "He''s uglier in my opinion..." Such rage fueled his insult as he tried to correct me, and I wasn''t about to say any more, but a few seconds after, that hatred faded away very quickly. "That was mean. I shouldn''t talk like that."


    Why stop there? He should really stop putting himself down like that. "I mean, the truth is the truth, right?" I mean, if he''s going to be upset about something, isn''t it better to stay upset about the issue until it is resolved? That''s how most conflicts get resolved anyway. Instead, he''s choosing to ignore the issue entirely and just stay all by himself. He''s sitting alone, speaking to nobody at all. He should be stronger than that. "It''s only a first though. Breakups like that happen far more often than you think."


    "Thanks, but that doesn''t really put me at ease."


    "Have you told Malica how you felt when she hurt you like this?" At least tell me he did say something.


    "Of course I did, but I also didn''t have to. She knew what she did; everyone knew what she did. When she had first asked me out, I was so stoked that anyone had taken any interest in me at all, but I didn''t know all she wanted to do was use me for her own personal sanity. She leeched off me and then threw the same - if not more attention onto somebody else."


    It was crazy enough to hear how that all started. One of those details stuck into me in particular, the bit about Reed only being interested for the sake of having someone''s romantic attention in the first place. That isn''t how it''s supposed to work, is it? It doesn''t feel quite right to me, but I can hardly blame him. As for the cheating part, well, that happens all the time, on both sides of the gender. "So, who was that other chick that you bumped into today?"


    "That would be Banarus." At last, I have a name for that cute face he told off earlier. Banarus is her name... "I actually enjoy hanging out with her. She''s cute and funny..." Already? Is Reed crushing on another girl this soon after a breakup? How is Banarus funny exactly? I''d like to know! "No, not in that way. I mean, she isn''t my type, so I don''t think of her like that. You know what I mean." My rapid pulse calmed just a little upon hearing that, and I tried again to ignore the strange challenge I had today of keeping myself calm inside.


    Still, how can he say anything nice about someone after being so cold to her this morning? It couldn''t have been from hitting pavement! "Could have fooled me earlier. It really sounded like she wanted to get you to sit with her in class today."


    "That''s because, in the past, I used to hang out with her a lot. But Banarus is Malica''s best friend right now. So, I can''t associate with either of them."


    Now I feel bad for Banarus. That isn''t right. "Don''t you think that''s a little unfair to Banarus?" See the good in this Reed. Surely you can''t fault one person for the mistake of another.


    "No, not really. She has bad taste in friends. That''s on her, not me."


    I was now beginning to understand an unseen barrier to Reed''s biggest problem I failed to notice earlier. His difficulty in making friends is not 100% allocated to him being an unlikable person. The fact that he can say that about Banarus at all means he has much more to learn about friendship before he''s ever going to get anywhere. He might be insightful, but it doesn''t mean he is currently knowledgeable or mature.


    Luckily, I can try to change that. I think I already know how, with the center of our vision so tightly focused and centered on a particular individual, one sitting in a desk right next to the familiar Banarus I spotted earlier. "Wait! That is her, isn''t it?"


    "What?" I caught Reed off guard, having him realize too late that I could easily see the center of his visual perception without effort, and since I already knew Banarus''s appearance, singling out Malica wasn''t so difficult. "Yeah, so what if it is?"


    Target sighted! I knew now what I must do. Reed has to learn that friendships aren''t always about picking sides between one person and another, and the only way he can learn that is to jump right in. I can''t convince him to apologize to Banarus, but if all she wants if for Reed to rejoin their little group, I can help with that. "Reed..."


    "What now? I told you already that she made her own bed."


    "Forget about that. Is Malica in the same class that we are in right now?"


    "Yes, she is."


    "What is she even like?" I suspected the one by Banarus already, but I wanted to avoid making any mistakes for this, so I waited to drag this out of Reed''s old soul. Without saying a word, Reed drifted his eyes onto her, so that I may see with full confirmation. "That''s her?"


    "The same bitch who broke my heart."


    So he curses too... I wondered if Reed would ever adopt the microchasm of so called swear words, and clearly he has, not that I would mind... Wait, she''s only that tall?! "Haha! She''s so tiny!"


    "Egh?!"


    I nearly punched myself in in the chest to punish myself for being stupid. I can''t just make random outbursts like that. I have to be the cool one here. "Come on, go over there," I pointed with my arm.


    "And what, introduce you, my invisible hallucination? No thanks. I''m socially awkward enough as it is. I want nothing to do with her anymore."


    Malica isn''t the one he needs to make things up to. Besides, he clearly isn''t over her at all. If he was, going over there wouldn''t be a problem in the first place. This only makes going over there more important. "I get that, but I want to get a better look at the bitch who hurt your feelings."


    While I thought trying to reassure him would work, Reed returned with a telepathic shift of his own voice, now mimicking the tone of a weird robot. "Access denied."


    Really? If that''s how he wants to play, I''ll show him just how annoying I can be. It might not feel right for him to be pushed into this by me, but I need Reed to trust me, and for him to get over something that has no meaning in the first place. "I have other ways I can find out, one of which involves a little torture."


    "You wouldn''t and couldn''t."


    Never try me Reed, only will you find out. "All I have to do is nag you all day long, as you desperately try to focus on the dreaded school work." Changing my tone to a more dramatic one, I turned Reed''s new trick against him, realizing how easy it was to alter the tone and sonic texture of telepathic sound. "Ringing in your ears for all eternity shall be her name engraved in my whispers... Malica... Malica... Malica..."


    "Alright already!" Reed jumped out of his seat rather aggressively, failing to stifle the reaction I inflicted on him. It wasn''t pretty, but at least he was forcing himself to do what I asked. He wasn''t quick about this at all, but without too much time, he walked over to their group, hands firm with too many emotions at once to make out anything clear.


    By the time he reached their area, Reed sat in an open desk set meant for him all this time, attracting the surprised attention of the others, though Reed seemed indifferent. "You know what Banarus? Whatever today... Whaaaaaaaaatever."


    "You''re sitting with us now?" Banarus sounded surprised, but her reaction was mainly based off the way Reed spoke to her this morning. As I kept quiet, I could hear some of his internal thoughts again, directed only at himself.


    I wonder what they would think of this situation, if they really knew what was going on with me right now. The panic! The freak show inside my head! The hallucination of a lifetime! Would any of them even get it? Would either one of them care at all?


    "Wait, does this mean¡ª"


    "The hell it does not!" Reed cut off his ex instantly, shutting down that failed assumption before it could even be voiced. "If it were up to me, I''d be just fine talking to Banarus and pretending that you don''t even exist."


    I didn''t say anything, choosing to watch in silence instead, but this was already going in the direction I wanted it to. Reed is talking to Malica again, and even though it is hostile, it''s better than saying nothing at all, so that she might one day learn better of her own mistakes. I knew Reed could do it!


    "Wow," I nodded disdainfully. "She actually thinks she has another shot to win you back. But naturally, you are smart enough not to fall for it."


    "What do you take me for Lumina?"


    Banarus tilted her confused face at us, repeating what Reed said as a question. "If it were up to you?"


    Uh oh! "What did we say about filtering our words carefully?" We can''t afford to have other students be suspicious of us right now, especially given Reed''s lack of faith in the Altiri. I already overheard his thoughts about wondering how they would take this news. I know he wants to know, but I can already see how it would end, and I don''t want to put him through that kind of pain. Having them learn of the truth by accident would be even worse.


    "Yeah, shut up. I got this..." "It''s nothing, don''t worry about it." That''s it; that''s all Reed had to say for himself. Oddly, though Banarus tilted her head slightly, she and Malica both ignored the rest of it, as if it never happened... I thought those two wouldn''t be as dense.


    Of course, Reed wasn''t finished speaking just yet, and the words that left him next were interesting to my ears. "Today is a strange day for me, but it''s high time I stopped being a moron... Malica? I am now completely and totally over you. So please, quit thinking that you have a second chance with me, cause it''s not going to happen."


    Malica jumped up from her seat in protest, trying to reassure us that we had the wrong idea. "I wasn''t thinking that!"


    "Liar. I can see the regret on her face. She just wants to grab the people she can''t get easily." What Reed said just now, that he was being a moron about the very situation I was trying to resolve, it made me wonder if he really thought about himself that way. Is his self-esteem so damaged by everything that he can only look at himself like some kind of idiot? Forget the trust in me; where''s the trust in himself? Where''s that confidence that he used to have? Where is that happy silliness he used to exude on the regular? Reed might still be the same Reed I know, but he''s already turned into a total pessimist. Yeah, he was being stupid about Banarus, but most people his age would do the same; it doesn''t mean he is actually an idiot. But I don''t know how to get him to understand that. I know simply telling him the opposite won''t work, not with his current attitude.


    "She''s Kenzaki''s problem now, not mine."


    Banarus broke the awkward silence between everyone, trying to move the situation along. "At least now you''re moving on, and your sitting with us today! What more fun can you ask for?"


    "Is she fun to be around?" Without thinking, I simply blurted my thought loudly, revealing how skeptical I sounded about the claim.


    Reed told me, in several long sentences that neither of the two were really that fun, and that he only hung out with them because they were still the most interesting or funniest merely by comparison to the remainder of the dull student body. It was a sad story to hear, but I understood exactly how he was seeing these other people. Though I wasn''t sure if I could easily agree to the perceptions he was making about others, I also had no reason to entirely doubt them either.


    Look at it from my angle. Reed is one of the shiest teenagers here. He''s gotten a lot better already at talking to people if it isn''t too random, though this was mostly only thanks to some insanities from the purge. That aside, why is he the one making the effort? I saw this before when he was in fifth grade. Reed always tried, going out of his way to talk to other people, but with too rare exceptions, nobody went out of their way to talk to him, not even a little. One of those stupid heathens tried to convert him, but he resisted, thankfully. The point is, is he really wrong to call everybody in the classroom dull and boring when the same people never bother to do anything besides gossip or trash talk, about anything beyond sports, fashion, or television? I am certain that Reed has a right to prioritize his efforts in certain directions, because friendship is a two-way street; it can never be given one-sided.


    Banarus and Malica might be ever so slightly the outliers of the normal for school life, but it doesn''t guarantee they are good people, and even if they were, it also doesn''t mean they will be kind to Reed or extend their hands out to him; Malica won''t because she already broke his heart, and Banarus... Well, she''s an unknown for now, which is better than a lost cause.


    "You know, for what it''s worth, you do have me to talk to now. I''m really here for you Reed."


    "I meant someone who¡ª Oh, never mind."


    I wasn''t thrilled to still be rejected the reality I deserved, but how could I really fight it? I can''t force him to believe that I exist, nor can I force him to accept all of this. Even so, I''m not going to stop trying. I''ll be by your side Reed, even if you won''t want me around. You don''t have to try with me; I''m going to be here for you no matter what happens, whenever you need me...


    Can he feel my thoughts now, as they melt into the slow, cold rush of blood pumping through my blue veins? Will Reed ever accept my company, even though I''m an alien, or to him, a hallucination? The expanding nexus of my own mess caught some of my words in frozen stasis, causing me to stutter every so often for the first time of my life. All I felt somehow became more intense and less identifiable at the same time, a sea of chaos replacing every breath, though I kept being brave, forcing myself to stay and keep having these conversations with Reed.


    As he swiftly ignored the two, sticking with the interests of my world, he asked more about the specifics of our species, including some of the technology, lack of illness, quite a lot in fact. However, once we eventually wound up onto the subject of Zinod, some painful memories started to return to me, which was distraction enough in whatever kept bubbling up from within. "Once upon a time, we did have access to it resources. But, Zinod was unfortunately destroyed."


    "D¡ªdestroyed?!" Reed stuttered; just anyone would from hearing about something to powerful. "Wh¡ª We are talking about a whole planet, right?"


    "Well technically, Zinod was more of a moon to Karnak. Despite being close to the same size, Zinod was still a smaller planet... I know you''re curious about what would take out something so big and important. It''s actually part of that long story I wanted to talk to you about, about the worst bit in our own history."


    Reed took time to mull it over again, deciding on something I wasn''t sure of, until he took some breaths and called out his next plan. "Well, math is going to be over soon. All of my next classes including the lunch period is going to me too busy for us to talk more about anything. But I know I will have plenty of free time to pick this up in Gym, and more time after that in my music class. So let''s wait until Gym and talk about it there. Besides, I could use a short break after this."


    "Okay." I agreed to the wait, but I wasn''t looking forward to holding all of this in for more than another hour. I also have to wonder how he will see us, once he learns of the Altiri history.


    I know how some guys tend to think. What happened in our world was awful no matter how anyone wants to slice it. It doesn''t change the fact that the crazy war we had against one person trying to build some kind of cult, was all started by that man''s insane ego. I''ve of course never told any human the story before, not yet, though I have imagined and simulated the conversion several times before, including telling the story to another male.


    How many men would side with Legasso, I wonder? Even though he helped build up our people for a long time, he one day turned his attention on the elements of total control of our entire species, showing more of his evil side if ever anyone dared to challenge him, until it reached a point where Legasso saw himself as a god, and us as useless creatures.


    What he did was plain wrong, and we reacted too slowly to prevent so many deaths from his reign. I know many males from the human world would look at us Altiri, and judge us horribly for our associations between Legasso''s personality and that of the more masculine bunch of men. If I were there in person, just once, I''d want to ask one of these heathens, if they really think that what Legasso did was justifiable, if he could be allowed to live, after he separated all of our mothers, destroyed many relationships, enslaved so many, enacted brutality and brainwashing on us, and blasted an entire world to hell just to regain social control of the very people he hated so much. I simply wonder, if men would defend their own, knowing of such evils, or if they would condemn an offender to the ends of torment.


    I don''t think my associations are wrong, and neither does the whole of The Unity. Of course, I don''t really have a direct way to ask this question to a heathen. I''ve already seen enough of this world anyway with my clairvoyance to be able to guess the truth already. I have every right to hate that murderer for what he did to us, to all of us, and I''ll never be told that I''m wrong to feel this way, not by anybody, not even by Reed.

 Chapter 021: Beyond History

    <hr>


    <11/01/149,566 {Avion 148} - 13:15 | Corral Position, Genosis, Altiri Sector Space>


    <Karnak to ACS414 Date Equivalent: 11/01/2010>


    <Telepathic Link: Established | Telepathic Strength: Moderate ~ {45<sup>o</sup>N}>


    With one class after the other, I had too much passive time to collect my thoughts of the past, the thoughts I wanted to bury deep into the darkest pit of hell. With Reed going to gym class, it would now be my time to tell him all about our Altiri history. There was way too much to say in just a few sentences, so I had to start from the beginning and summarize what I knew at the same time, keeping some of the benign memories at bay.


    There is a history for us, a history for them, and a history intertwined in the involvement of us both, but the moment on our minds now traced back to our darkest years in the past, over a hundred thousand years ago. Our world changes ever so slowly, but our upbringing was not without sacrifice, void of any perfection.


    All Altiri know about the history of our past, of what happened on September 22<sup>nd</sup>, 49,139, the fall of Zinod; the very same day we lost more than a million Altiri souls, and the same moment Legasso was branded as the number one enemy of The Unity and all Altiri alike. This is the reason all heathens are the enemy of our kind, and why anybody with even slight similarities to Legasso are seen in the same description...


    It took me a while to realize, to become self-aware of the irony in my most recent decisions. By all points, Reed is a male, just like other male humans on Earth, and yet, he isn''t really like the others. He isn''t drawn to the lure of destructive robot fights and random explosions; he isn''t interested in controlling every little thing and person in his life, and he doesn''t find any fun in the pain of others. It''s not easy to pinpoint exactly which qualities and traits are the same to Legasso, since he was just one specific man, not to mention his horrible behaviors only showed so late in his life, but after studying humans long enough, all of us have reached an interesting conclusion. This trait humans call masculinity, while complicated, and while not a 1:1 ratio for comparison, is still the closest matrix of personality traits we''ve remembered in Legasso. There are simply men who enjoy the pain of others, the enslavement of others, the abuse and sexual abuse of women, and who prioritize being the alpha. It isn''t to say all men behave in such ways, but most men seem to lean into it, as if it were a primal urge or instinct. Every time I see it, there is always this big focus on ''being tough'' or ''being the strong, dominant one.''


    Is it actually masculinity? I don''t really care. I can spot a heathen from miles away every single time, and I''m willing to bet Reed will as well. I don''t know why there are rare exceptions to this rule; I''m simply glad that there are. I used to be convinced with the rest of The Unity that no such exceptions existed within humans, but here stands evidence to the contrary.


    I had to break down the history of our time in increments as I told Reed everything, from start to finish. We never knew our origin story, but we managed to advance in time either way; us, a superior race of Altiri women, reproducing by parthenogenesis (a human term), until someone gave birth to a male Altiri. His physical and mental differences were noted instantly, and the man was praised for these differences, as most thought he was a god or savior, for whatever the reason.


    It pains me to even know this in our history, but Legasso didn''t start out as a bad person, or if he did, he hid those traits all too well. None of us know when he began to turn or why. When our race was still so young, trapped on our frozen world outside the stars above, Legasso was there to lead a team, to develop our technology, and eventually set sights on outer space. Legasso didn''t do the heavy thinking and heavy work alone of course; he simply delegated the tasks and the research.


    Thousands of years later, there was much to show for it. Using what resources we had available in the rocks that fell from the sky, we were eventually capable of reaching space, even though there were difficulties and casualties along the way. It was a very long duration of time afterwards, where peace and calm prevailed, while technology continued to grow, slowly, gradually, and carefully.


    It was during the tail end of this calm when I was first born, the exact year escaping my memory. Even though I cannot remember my mother and my neighbor family, I could vaguely remember the tiny town I grew up in; Anncoya. All of us lived in clusters of small towns, each no more than fifty houses span. There wasn''t much for us to do back then, unless we were inspired to work for Legasso''s many branches of development.


    Over thousands of more years, Legasso and his subsidiary departments continued to make things for the betterment of Altiri society, until one day, this development came to a near halt. Progress became insanely slow, and it drew more demand for us to join these departments to work on their projects, always made so vague from the outside. I remember joining none of them.


    Whatever was going on inside the government created just enough tension and confusion to warrant the attention of others on the outside, including my own. Something sinister was going on inside that royal temple on the surface, a temple built just for Legasso''s sake, though none of us knew for sure, our telepathic powers still unable to snoop into someone''s random mental maze of thought. We could sometimes feel the pain and outcry of others, but never understand from whom or why.


    I wasn''t born during the time, but a mutual acquaintance of my mother was there the day Lady Q introduced herself, passed down on my side of the family through memory transfer. The friend volunteered into the temple as a means of learning whether it was something they wanted to do, while Legasso''s worship was always at such high regard and demand. I don''t know what Lady Q saw in him that day, or what she was ever thinking. That day she walked in, she made a formal address to the leader, Legasso, challenging his motives as well as his authority, right in front of everyone as if it were no big deal.


    It was as if I was among the rest of the crowd, wondering why someone would ever question Legasso''s leadership when he brought us so far in our history and gradual development. None of us knew at the time that Lady Q had been practicing with a crazy ability, one that allowed her to intrude on the telepathy of others even when it was meant to be secured and locked down. I think she kept it to herself that day, because nobody would have believed her if she was the only one who could do it.


    I now wonder if she caught Legasso in telepathic speech discussing some diabolical plan with someone else, or if he was simply treating his closest members with undue disrespect and malice. I remembered her face when she addressed Legasso though. Lady Q was absolutely certain that something was wrong with the man, and she didn''t hide her distaste and disloyalty for him.


    All of us thought and expected what happened next would be all there was. Lady Q was insulted by her own peers, as the whole world became upset with her, and she was outcast, banished from whatever neighborhood she came from before, which wasn''t a shock for any of us. I don''t know what she was expecting to happen, but Lady Q quickly went into hiding afterwards. We assumed that she was out of her mind, that she was the one who was so incorrect and mistaken.


    However, not long after her appearance and brazen display of disloyalty, something inside Legasso snapped that day. It wasn''t obvious or instant, but everyone eventually realized his differences shortly after. He prioritized the special projects less and less, holding most programs on the backburner, except for the space exploration project. Since he was technically in charge of everything, he didn''t need a public reason or an excuse to direct everything as he pleased.


    What changed in him first was the disrespect towards many workers under his direct control. He may have hidden the abuse in the beginning, but he hid it much less afterwards. Of course, much of the abuse, in the beginning anyway, was entirely linked to the condition of giving absolute sworn loyalty and allegiance to Legasso, mind, body, and soul.


    With the projects slowing down however, that wasn''t a commodity traded as often as before, and the more people under him started to think independently of his control, the more those same people were abused, and the more us outsiders began to question whether Legasso''s continued control was absolutely necessary for our survival.


    We weren''t the best critical thinkers of our time, myself included during that moment so long ago. After living in a world of peace for so long, there was little need to learn about the conflicting natures of other people, and little reason to try challenging anything at all. What Legasso was doing was obvious to some, but confusing for most. In many ways, we didn''t react to what we should have reacted to, and with Lady Q in hiding, all of us had to stick to our own thoughts and reason, no matter how naive, no matter how flawed.


    The escalation wasn''t quick by any means; thousands of more years still passed until we finally noticed enough change to make comparisons we could not make before. Though it took so long, independent research and development centers started to crop up, run entirely on their own, outside the confines of our single-ruler government. Our science was not developing at the pace it should have been anymore, with exception to the might of the space program Legasso still controlled, as many more fleets of space ships were constructed.


    Some of saw these independent stations as an indifferent existence in our world, until Legasso and his insanely devoted team of Altiri warriors targeted these independent stations, seizing total control over them under the claim that only he could control such programs. It was the first time we could see how much he wanted to control everything, even though most of us didn''t realize this was such a dangerous and negative trait.


    The ugly dark ages of Legasso continued for years, with workers closest to him becoming so different and vile, aggressive like never seen before. Some of these soldiers were sent into our towns, harassing and hurting other people if they too did not swear absolute loyalty to Legasso, including myself. Still, enough of us thought nothing was wrong with the picture, having nothing else to compare it to, until The Exodus started.


    It began slowly, initially as a volunteer program to better survey planet Zinod from afar. As soon as there were enough transport ships and enough willing Altiri soldiers, Legasso started The Exodus program. It had no public mission statement, and no warning as to what it was going to be about. Without warning, hundreds of thousands of Altiri families were ripped apart, the mothers separated from their children. Word got around quickly that children of people like myself were being separated from their mothers, the mothers being thrown onto these ships, sent off to Zinod, and never seen again, led entirely by Legasso''s private army.


    All of us were helpless to stop it, and some time in between the initial change and The Exodus, something happened to all of us Altiri, something we''ve never since been able to explain or figure out. We would always give birth at the age of 108, almost like clockwork, but several years after Lady Q made her first debut, it was like a switch was activated, and most of us stopped having children. It even affected me when it was to be my time, expecting pregnancy only to be surprised when nothing happened. It hit a majority of Altiri first, and quickly spread from one to the next little by little, like a disease of some kind.


    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    When everyone was being rounded up, this only made it easier for the Legasso task force to collect our mothers, since there weren''t any newborns to replace us. Legasso stole so many people, sent them to Zinod, and then shut down the special project designed to look deeper into our sudden inability to reproduce normally.


    Meanwhile, I tried to tune it all out, prioritizing time spent with my mother, as I ignored the rest of what was going on around me. Me and my mother went into hiding, though I still remember nothing about her face, her words, or her personality to this day; only that we spent time together in the snow banks near the dead zones of our planet, or in caves. One day, the task force took my mother away too, while I was forced into one of the larger cities, left all on my own, scared and afraid like many others my age around me.


    We were allowed to travel from city to town, wherever we wanted to go, but Legasso and his team of monsters made certain we all knew that our mothers were being exiled on Zinod, for ''disloyalty'' in their words. I would have given up right then and there, but when I followed rumor that there was still hope in the town three sectors over, I followed my own path to it, finding where this new hope was coming from.


    Lady Q, the same woman who had initially exiled herself made a return, trying to stay out of the eyes of the task force. She gave so many public speeches, words that I would never forget to this day. She explained everything that was really going on, laying it all out before us, and explaining the reason why it was all horrible. Like a new leader, she stood up for all of us, and made promises that we would one day be reunited with our families trapped on Zinod again. We had not the power of long range clairvoyance or even long range telepathy, having not been taught how it works, but Lady Q did have the power of telepathy for any range, and she revealed to us how she learned everything and what she was planning to do about it. She proved to many how vile and evil Legasso was as a person, by sharing her own memory with those nearby, memory of overhead telepathic conversations which she herself intruded into, as well as some other unknown growing conspiracy. I wasn''t able to attain this memory, for I was still too untrained to see it, though I trusted my fellow people.


    Lady Q knew that most of us were too vulnerable, that none of us knew how to actually fight, where Legasso''s growing task force knew how to kill and snap necks. Any mass gathering on the surface would eventually be noticed and shut down. So, she did the interesting thing by attacking the space program, running small, insurgent, private guerrilla attacks on critical infrastructure where it regarded preparing launching ships into space, which kept Legasso grounded for a long time. In the meantime, Lady Q devised a small team of pilots, and launched into space on hundreds of missions, changing the launching and landing point so often as to never give up any key location.


    We learned later that she was building a small docking station hidden in the reaches of outer space, and from that docking station, over many more hundreds of years, they harvested more materials from the asteroid fields, used what they could to build more ships, expand the base, expand the docking station potential, and expand the fleet, little by little, all in a manner that hid what was going on from the others.


    By the time thousands of ships were built, warning reached us that Legasso was onto Lady Q''s plan, and so Lady Q initiated a mandatory military draft of everyone nearby, which included myself. I remember this moment too well, and I was so scared to go into space all by myself. Even though we would be put with teams of people like us, I didn''t know anybody there, nor did I understand how to fight, how to fly, or how to so much as maintain a spacecraft. Apparently, Junko didn''t know much more than me when we met.


    With the draft granting a new fleet close to ten thousand ships, Legasso''s biggest conspiracy was revealed, a conspiracy that he had been developing some kind of world ending weapon, using known compounds in some kind of bomb, rumored to be capable of mass destruction on a huge scale, with the purpose clearly being threats and terrorism. Knowing he would ever think to go this far was the wake-up call all of us needed, for the Altiri children and myself included were finally awakened to the evil we were facing.


    Secret task forces under Lady Q were sent back down to Karnak to locate and secure these bombs, but their tasks didn''t end in success quick enough, most of them vanishing. To counter this, Lady Q expedited her own program, expanding the base and construction so that a massive Altiri Temple could be built in outer space, slated for operations in ship docking, pilot training, and physical combat training, as well as some psionic training. This also took many years, but all of us knew by then what we had to do. This massive fleet, this insane training program, all of it was made against Legasso.


    It should have been easy to go after one man after outnumbering him so much, but he had his own task force, those loyal only to him and nobody else. He also had these doomsday bombs as insurance that going after him at random could be dangerous, and so we needed to be trained first. Most of us recognized the leadership being used to help us, and many more were allowed to land on Zinod to see their mothers again, though getting them off Zinod was a challenge in itself with the space craft not being designed for large transport, and the scattered amount of people on Zinod.


    Even so, it wasn''t enough time. Legasso launched his plan early, flying his personal ship to Zinod, despite knowing it would be seen, tracked, and watched landing there. Rumor had it that he made no attempt to hide what he brought on board with him, the very same E-bomb we feared me might try to use. Our newly appointed queen did not know about this bomb that he carried to Zinod, and neither did the rest of us. So, she sent many of our fleets out to land on Zinod ourselves, to trap Legasso there and box him in.


    Little did we know that we were already way too late. Lissy and Sana, from the town of Jue, caught up to Legasso first, only after they had learned that Legasso was - without question ¨C planning to destroy much of Zinod to wipe out their entire population, all as a means to force the rest of us Altiri to submit. Lissy and Sana ensured they could track their target, and upon catching up to Legasso, engaged him in combat, failing to defeat him, but succeeding in slowing down his attempt to flee from the doomed world on his own ship.


    Legasso''s bomb had a remote detonator, but Lissy had somehow obtained one of these E-bombs herself from a spy, and she set her own with a timer, combined with a remote switch to cancel the detonation. Apparently, their plan was to either capture Legasso and kill him while on Zinod, stopping all detonations afterwards, or to let the timer on the other bomb reach zero, so that Legasso could never escape Zinod from his own devastating creation. In the same instance, Lissy and Sana both sent a burst psionic transmission, a powerful, momentary collection of their exact memories as to what was going on up to their last moment, all so that the events of what would come could be confirmed.


    We Cy-Stars of course were the only ones to receive this burst transmission, though we would have been destroyed too if we had flown even a few minutes closer to Zinod. We learned everything that happened instantly, but all of us were too horrified to speak, think, or say anything, for an entire planet smaller than Karnak was blown to bits by the unknown weapon.


    Some were uncertain whether to label Lissy and Sana as heroes of their own world, or as contributors to Zinod''s destruction, wondering if it was all necessary. We later learned however, that Legasso''s plan was to detonate his Zinod bomb anyway, after leaving on his ship, and using that devastation as a means to coerce us into sworn allegiance. We also learned that ten more of these devices existed in his hidden stash on Karnak, and that one of his many plans would have been to use threat of Zinod''s fall against Karnak as further blackmail to force us to worship him.


    The queen created a special council of Royal Scryers, rounded up every single Legasso sympathizer or previous worker, so that they could be pegged or tortured for information, all so that this would be learned and recorded in our history books. Those who refused to feel any shame or guilt for carrying out Legasso''s plan, were killed, and the others who seemed remorseful, were imprisoned for the longest time, to slowly be retrained and reintegrated into our society, even though we were never the same again.


    I didn''t pay much attention to this though. After watching the world my mother was on burn, it was the moment that broke me and the rest of us. For almost every Altiri survivor, our own mothers were on that planet, trapped there and killed because Legasso couldn''t control his ego or lust for power. It was all I could think about, for years and years, slowly breaking me apart, where all I had left was this military, and the team of strangers I got stuck with. We all bonded over our shared trauma, but none of us have ever fully healed from what happened.


    This is the reason I will never apologize for my hatred. I will never-ever be made to feel wrong or ashamed for how I see any person who might even resemble Legasso in any manner, especially when this person acts the same way Legasso used to. Everything about his behavior was made public and aware after The Unity was formed, information gathered by the queen and other witnesses, so that all of us could know what to look out for.


    Our worst past was then behind us, and we would see better, peaceful days, but none of us would heal, none of us would forget, and none of us would forgive. Heathens were branded as our enemy, my enemy, my sisters'' enemy, and if ever one were to be born into our world again, they shall have no mercy.


    I split up all I could, telling Reed all of this, bit by bit, leaving out just a few of the personal moments, so that I could concentrate on ensuring he understood the basics of what happened. But the more I kept talking about it, the more each scenic memory brought me back to a place I never wanted to be in ever again. I fought the tears as much as I could, reminding myself of the reason I was telling him this, and afraid he might not see this the same way.


    However, to my own amazement, I felt the potent remorse and sadness from him too. It wasn''t entirely the same in signature, but his emotions were still so genuine and pure, proof he was really listening to all I had to say, holding it in thought for careful consideration.


    "While his specific birth was coincidental, it is a correct assumption that we would have been very critical of any new male Altiri if he were ever to be born. We weren''t really having new children at that stage, so the threat of giving birth to another male Altiri was not exactly a real concern to us. Nevertheless, Legasso, and all heathens like him were declared public enemy number one, direct enemy of The Unity. If we ever found one again, our automatic response should be to kill on sight."


    "Jesus! You people must hate anyone like Legasso. But that extends to anyone who is male?"


    "Specific kinds of men, yes. Those most specifically related to the same personality traits present qualities that your people refer to as masculinity. In a nutshell, they are one and the same. Most of us who survived the event lost more than just our own people. For 94% of all the Altiri, which included myself and my sisters in the Cy-Stars, I lost my own mother that day, when the planet was destroyed."


    "Oh my gosh Lumina... I''m so sorry!"


    I quickly reassured him that none of this was his fault, but hiding the gravity dragging my mood down was already impossible. I''m glad that he at least has some sympathy, despite believing I don''t even exist in the first place.


    I then explained to him what came after, that I stayed in the military despite the end of the draft. I had lost my only biological family at that point, and all I had left were the people I was surrounded by, who had also lost their families in exactly the same way. We all became friends, sisters who cared for each other. A while afterwards, Herios came along and invented so many new things, giving us the power to resurrect ourselves shortly after death if done right, nearly halting our slow decline of population, among discovering many other sciences.


    Little new things happened after long enough spans of time; the purge had been developed initially as a wild experiment in concept only, then we found Earth, and so on, and so forth. I spent too many days in my sadness to remember every single moment that came after, because I spent so much of my time mourning, not merely about the loss of my mom, but also about the loss to my memory of her, for me and my sisters...


    I now wonder, if there would have been a point in time where I wouldn''t want to go on anymore, losing all my hope, all my sanity, all my inspiration, and all my will to live. I was right on the cusp of these dark thoughts, me and many others, when the scryers suddenly discovered an alien world, changing everything in ways nobody could have ever imagined.


    I don''t know what exactly it was that made Reed so receptive to this story, but hearing him listen and occasionally ask questions in between, I don''t know, but it made this moment feel better somehow, like some strange weight was removed from me. Then, the school bell rang for the end of his gym class.


    "You want me to explain the rest to you in your next class, or wait until you get out of school?"


    Reed paused for a moment, perhaps surprised that there could be so much more to this. "Honestly, I feel like my head might explode if I learn anymore! But it''s not like I will say no either. My music class is not that interesting."


    "Excellent! I can talk to you some more then!"


    "Did you actually enjoy talking about all of that?"


    How would he think that? It isn''t something any of us like to talk about anymore, but, after seeing how much he can care about this, despite our current situation, I felt better about all of this, without knowing why. "I only enjoyed talking to you about it. Other than you, I''ve only had my sisters to talk to about this for the past 100,000 years, officially speaking."


    "Oh, right. The communication ban... That rule is way too harsh! How did you ever stay sane?"


    "I really don''t know." I don''t think I was in my right mind for many random moments of my life afterwards. Pushing away all those dark thoughts was so difficult, and the only thing that saved me time and time again were my sisters, as well as some of my new friends I made later on.


    I ask myself even crazier questions these days. Why did the Fall of Zinod happen? Why was Legasso born? Why was he put on our planet, and for what purpose did all his devastation serve us? Why was he initially so calm and innocent only to turn evil many thousands of years later? And also, why did she have to die while I survived?


    I can never put a blanket over these questions, even though I have such an important thing to do in this other world. This is who I am, a woman with a horrible past, wanting nothing more now than to help somebody else. I know with certainty Reed has not had a rough life, nothing as bad as I, and nothing as bad as plenty of others... But it''s still rotten enough, his soul more fragile and sensitive than the rest. All I want to do is help him hold it all together, no matter what it takes, even if I shatter in the process.

 Chapter 022: Diversification

    <hr>


    <11/01/149,566 {Avion 148} - 14:20 | Corral Position, Genosis, Altiri Sector Space>


    <Karnak to ACS414 Date Equivalent: 11/01/2010>


    <Telepathic Link: Established | Telepathic Strength: Moderate ~ {46<sup>o</sup>N}>


    No matter what I kept telling myself, the longer I shared this incredible space with Reed, the worse I felt for all I was doing here. Despite how desperate and determined I was before, it wasn''t as easy maintaining that kind of energy all throughout this amazing day. Hearing from Reed that I''m nothing more than imaginary data wasn''t something that I took lightly, but after spending these few hours with him, other things I ignored started to surface.


    I had to consider the reason he viewed me as nothing more than hallucination, and more importantly, how he was feeling in this present moment. If my presence here really is doing more harm than good, then I shouldn''t push too hard. I was supposed to bring myself here to help, not to harm. "There is plenty to learn about the Unity. We are not some made up screen of imaginations like you think we are... But I''m sorry I didn''t notice your feelings earlier."


    "What do you mean?"


    I took a quiet long exhale, laying out my confusion for his understanding. "I''m talking about the way I introduced myself earlier, about the way that we met... I should have assumed earlier that you would not have believed me. But when the purge finally activated and finished, I just got so excited and carried away. You refusing to believe in our existence really shouldn''t have surprised me at all, but it kind of did, and that''s my fault."


    "Don''t worry about that for now. Just answer my question, about the purge."


    "You really want to learn more?" I don''t understand. I thought he was totally upset with my very existence, but I can''t be sure what he''s thinking about now... I shouldn''t be surprised. Emotions don''t always weave through telepathy when they are impure and mixed with other thoughts, and for Reed especially, I sense a kind of speediness to his processing unlike something I''ve never notice before. Maybe all he wants to do right now is absorb as much information about us as possible. Still, it is a lot to take in for anybody.


    "I asked didn''t I? Tell me everything about the role of a purge. No, tell me more about my role in all of this. I thought that the Altiri hated all men. So why am I suddenly the first to be purged?"


    "Because you are different to others." I noticed his difference from the moment I laid eyes on this hidden gem of a human. His very thought processes are unique. The manner in which he observes the world around him is unusual yet precise and sharp. He''s highly insightful and kind where other men are not. There isn''t a single variable within Reed that matches any personality that Legasso had; of this I am certain.


    "Bullshit! I''m still a dude, am I not?"


    "That''s not what I meant," I argued nervously.


    "Whatever," he nodded. "I just don''t see the significance of myself in the picture here."


    "What do you have to complain about Reed? Take a look around you right now." I waited on Reed to actually do what I told him to, to really take another look at the current environment he was in, and also to help him realize how special he really is. "Right now, everybody in your entire school is going about their business, taking notes, cracking jokes, all living their life without a single clue for the rest of the world around them. You''ve always been able to sense more around you than they have. They''re all young right now, but most will never be exposed to the truth that you and I know. Your powers of observation rival that of everyone on top of this."


    "Tsk!" "So I''m special now? You know I can''t just accept that."


    "You''re talking to another person using telepathic communication, unbeknownst to everyone else around you! Meanwhile, everybody is bunkered down in their studies, pop culture, and absorbing material that could very well become useless material. Don''t you find that amazing?" How many people does Reed notice and observe with so much attention and detail, only for nobody to ever return the favor back to him? How many people ignore all interaction with the only one I''ve seen go out of their way to make friends with others? This isn''t supposed to be one sided, but despite all difficulties, Reed hasn''t changed who he is, refusing to compromise his personality for the sake of a single soul in this school or the last. Am I really the only other person to notice that?


    "Of course I do Lumina, but you have to understand something. Even if you are real, even if you and I are really using telepathy which is an incredible power in itself, having those abilities does not make me special or above other people. I can''t put my own value above those around me like that. Our association with each other does not make me a better or more important person."


    I could only stand tall with my hands at my side, smiling that this was the conclusion he sought. I wasn''t trying to make my analogy to him so material, but even though he saw it this way, Reed doesn''t even have nor want a superiority complex, even though he is a bit superior to others for sensing more. Do they call it modesty, or a different kind of respect? Whatever the case, this is exactly what I was talking about before. "You see? That right there is what I''m talking about. Most other males would be so self-absorbed at the very thought of the opportunity of having such an ability."


    Unfortunately, it seemed he wasn''t convinced. "Enough of this single importance crap Lumina! I am not some ''center of the universe'' person. I don''t care what I''m doing now, or if I was the first person to try something new. I''m just curious is all. I still don''t believe anything you''ve told me is true. I have nothing to go off of!"


    "I know that Reed." I was right then. Reed is only curious about what left there is to be learned, but it in no way helps him become certain whether any of this is real, and I feel like this is somehow my fault... What am I supposed to do now?


    A long silence between us both persisted for a while, both of us feeling awkward about each other. "So then what was your plan exactly?"


    "I... I don''t know."


    "What do you mean, you don''t know? Based on what I''ve heard, you don''t just purge people on a whim."


    He has no idea. It''s true; people don''t purge on a whim, but my reasons are far more complicated than what I can put into words. What was my plan exactly? I don''t know anymore. I got it into my head that all of this would be simple and easy, imagining the scenario one way, then revising that later on to be even easier. I got caught up in my own excitement, absorbed by too much hope from within. I figured, if at least twenty other aggressor groups can purge a human and convince them they are real, it would be no challenge for me at all, not even a bump in the road.


    Why didn''t I listen to myself from so many years ago? I knew this was going to cause half as many problems as it solves. No purge is ever perfect, and when we get involved in the lives of any human, their life has to turn on its side before we can ever get along. The shock of our existence isn''t easy to handle. The implications of having to keep this a secret from other humans can be just as painful. Then there is also the personal debate of deciding whether one is simply insane for believing in us, or blessed. I bet not every human who has been purged sees our involvement as a blessing.


    "I don''t want to upset you Reed. I just wanted to meet you like this. And then I did, and it was amazing... But I don''t know where to go from here. I did all of this to help you, to be friends with you, and to talk to you about anything you ever want to. I didn''t purge you for any other specific reason Reed. I''m making the rest up as I go, really."


    I tried my best to shut out the other voices in my head, memories of phrases my sisters warned me of nearly a year ago, about how all of this can so easily backfire. Their doubts exceed my own, but their doubts may also be valid enough. I must be crazy to purge someone for any reason, and I knew the risks before taking them. My sisters may have been right all along, but I don''t want them to be right. No matter how bad things are, I have to do my best to make this all work. If words won''t be enough, then I have to do what I can to convince Reed that I am real! "Take a look to your left... There! You see that blond hair girl? You now her?"


    "I''ve seen her before in this class, but I don''t talk to her. Never spoke to her, so I don''t know her at all."


    Good. If she is a stranger, then he hasn''t done his own investigations into this student. Reed isn''t the only one who knows how to stare at someone and extract various life details about them. I too have this skill, one I forged over thousands of years from clairvoyance. People always have body language about them, and other unintentional displays of tells they don''t think about. Sometimes it''s based on the exact kind of shoes they wear, how big their purse is, how alive and alert they seem in class, among various other tiny traits. Nobody can get it perfect every time, but she doesn''t hide much about her. Reed may have observation skills too, but not the same level of experience I do in using these skills; so to him, if I learn something about someone that he could not possibly know, maybe that should do it. "Okay... She has at least one sibling, and babysits on the side for extra cash. She has a boyfriend, but not one she is too serious about."


    "What the? How can you even tell?"


    It was easy for me to understand the first part. The clothes she is wearing and the decorations on her purse and shoes shows off plenty of money, but not too much. It means she is well off. Combined with the fact that she is somewhat mute and a bit quiet just sitting there, half-paying attention to everything, whatever she does in her spare time must involve care taking. The money must be coming from a babysitting job, as many kids these age are getting into this new trend. The lack of energy indicates a sibling or more, so it''s either one of two, or both.


    There are a few more boys in this class than there are girls, yet despite this, the stranger is willingly choosing to sit alone, so they have no intention or interest to flirt with others, when she could easily pull that off. She might not have an interest in men, but the picture slightly hanging out of the back pocket of her phone case states otherwise. Since she isn''t madly texting though, I''m led to believe she doesn''t care much for the moment of romance; plus, the back pocket of a phone case is not the best place for such a tiny photo.


    "I just know. I''ve learned to read people really well. I have good observation skills too, though I had more time to put it to practice. One day, you will improve this skill like I have as well."


    "That''s not even¡ª"


    "Go talk to her if you don''t believe me. Go on! Ask her what her life is like and you will see for yourself. I''ll even throw in a bonus hint. This class right here is her only elective, and she has one more honors class." Not once has she let her eyes drift over to the lesson on the chalk board or to the instruments of the class. This may be a music class, but it doesn''t mean everyone will be interested in music. She could care less about the fine arts, and the only explanation for that is that this class elective is nothing more than a required filler. All middle and high schools have them.


    It took a bit of argument between us to convince Reed to even attempt confirming my points. Little did I remember how much trouble he actually has in talking to other people, regardless of what purpose it be for. I wanted to address this little problem just as quickly, but I knew I didn''t have the time for helping every issue. First must come proving I am right.


    Soon enough, he got out of his seat and asked all of the right questions, confirming mostly what I already said to be true. It was when he got to the final question that a mistake had been made.


    "Do you think you can tell me if you are seeing someone right now?"


    "Uh oh!" I didn''t have enough time to tell him why that was the wrong way and wrong time to poise that question to the student. What came next was a predictable upset from her, even though it all felt clich¨¦. Doesn''t Reed realize how that questions sounds coming out of the blue? It''s as if he straight up asked her out!


    After being scolded by the little princess, Reed retreated back to his seat embarrassed, and it got the attention from most of the class including the teacher. "Everyone needs to stay in their seats. You know better Reed."


    "You probably could have phrased it better. But at least now you know I was right." It wasn''t subtle, but it should work.


    "Shut it Lumina! You''re the one who wanted me to say all of that! I can''t believe I just embarrassed myself like that!"


    Is he really embarrassed so easily? "I thought you didn''t care what others thought of you."


    "Only if I don''t care about them first. You have no idea how horrible that was. Everyone thinks I''m a real creep now. Besides, her reactions were probably her response to how awkward I was just now. It proves nothing."


    Way to blow things out of proportion. Still, if that isn''t enough proof, I''ll have to add another prediction. "Fine then. Let''s switch targets. Take a look at your teacher instead."


    "Who? The substitute?" His nervousness already told me I wouldn''t have as much luck the second time. After that first upset, he probably won''t ask to confirm, but I''m still going to try anyway.


    "I can tell right now that he... He has only had sex once in his life, is not currently married, watches videos online at home for fun... And he lives in a very small space with limited access to food and water." My first guess was a stretch even for me, but I knew I was right about the rest of the detail. Reed gave one clue up by stating he was a substitute teacher, which means he gets paid even less than regular teachers, and for middle school, that salary isn''t very high. As a result, these people live in lower income situations. There''s a kind of passion or spark missing from this teacher, which tells me he is the kind that wastes time at home doing very little if anything at all. His lips are chapped and dry, and he''s skinnier than what any adult that age should be, so the guy must not eat or drink much. People who live like this often don''t have female company around. I''m willing to be wrong about my first point, but I''m confident about the rest... I should probably make sure Reed doesn''t ask about his sex life though.


    Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    "What the hell? That''s just gross! I don''t want to hear about anyone''s personal life anymore. Got it Lumina?"


    Well, that takes care of one worry I was about to have. Still, if he isn''t going to at least try to figure this out any other way, what else can I do? "What else can I say? I am trying you know."


    "Try some other way," he demanded quietly.


    "I know of no other way Reed. I already told you that I''m new to this situation too. I really am trying my best." All these years, scryers have tried to come up with better ways for us Altiri to prove our existence to humans for situations exactly like this one, and yet not one answer could be presented. Reed had a good one prepared earlier, about bringing multiple humans simultaneously purged and alive together, but the Royal Scryers would never allow for that.


    "Convenient. You''re new to this, I''m new to this; I guess we''ll never know the truth then."


    "I told you to have faith in me." Reed of course ignored me, and would for a bit more time through the lesson. Oddly, the instructor was going off about economy instead of music, which made no sense to me at all, though it did peak his interest enough to learn more about our world''s lack of economic system. It was nothing more than additional curiosity though. As far has getting him to trust me more, I don''t think it worked at all. In the end, it made me more silent than before, because I was all out of little plans to try. I still stayed with him though, even though the moment he got back home from school.


    <hr>


    <16:11>


    His home wasn''t entirely like I remembered. The neighborhood was the same, but it looked as if they moved out of their previous area and into a different housing complex; a move within the same neighborhood. I got first class view to the space around him, and quickly towards one of the two most important people still in his life, his mom.


    Still, the exchange from before was different than I remembered, less verbal, less intense. Reed refrained from saying much at all to his mom, and she seemed to return the same energy.


    "Make sure you finish all your homework."


    "''Finish all your homework?'' That''s all? I guess a few details did change." That isn''t the same Marrie I remember at all. It''s as if she''s partially checkout out of everything. Reed too; he and Marrie used to talk a lot more, but Reed intentionally refrained from saying any more... Actually that much could be from my current presence.


    "What are you so hurt about? I always have stupid homework; that''s what school gives onto me these days."


    "Still..." She used to greet him at home with much more enthusiasm, becoming the highlight of both their days. Did the divorce really inflict this much damage on everybody? Does Reed not even care about the changes I''m noticing now? This isn''t how a family is supposed to function.


    "Who the hell is that guy?" I asked in surprise, not paying much attention to where Reed was going until he seemed to stop before him. It wasn''t Reed''s own father, because I''ve seen Nigel enough to tell the difference. Nigel isn''t exactly what I would call a heathen either, but a person who still walks a rope right on that line. In some instances, Reed''s father hasn''t been the best influence, but certainly far away from a net negative. So, I must ask in curiosity who this new character is.


    "Lumina? Meet Peterson, my step dad. Word of warning, he''s kind of a dick."


    "Step dad?" When did all of this happen? I''ve never once seen this man in my life. Before I could think any further on how strange it was that I should have noticed him sooner, I immediately noticed some other details about the tall adult, details that made my heart race and my entire body tremble from memory. "No! Oh fuck no! This isn''t going to work!"


    "I can tell you don''t like him very much. Well that makes two of us. Better get used to it though."


    I don''t think Reed realizes what the problem is here. It''s still early for me to be certain, but I''m already able to sense more than enough about this guy that doesn''t sit right with me. One issue was his behavior to Reed''s presence; there wasn''t a reaction at all, even though the twos'' eyes clearly met. Red flag number one, Peterson gives Reed less attention than his mom does, which is already low today to begin with. Red flag number two, the way the man moved about the kitchen, walking or standing, had a kind of territorial aura to it, a body language of spacial ownership and domination; this is a well-known trait of a heathen. Red flag number three, the way Peterson was eating the doughnut, rather the mess he was making in the process. Tiny crumbs spilt to the counter with no plate underneath to protect it, and the guy didn''t even look down to acknowledge that he was making a mess; total carelessness, which under certain conditions is also a heathenish trait. Reed, what have you gotten yourself into? You should know to keep your distance! "If he tries anything..."


    "Jesus! He''s not abusive or anything. Calm down."


    I couldn''t calm down, and my eyes were locked entirely on Peterson''s entire movement and body language. Every little thing about the guy, while still not well-defined, brought back so much of that hatred I''ve been trying to suppress all day. It was easier making it through school since Reed had nobody bullying him this time around, and most of the guys there were too young to even look like a threat, while most teachers were too cringy to mean anything, but this guy right here means business. His height, his strength clearly visible given the t-shirt, and every other mannerism about Peterson was one masculine trait after another, including that tattoo he didn''t bother to hide. People like this are most likely to be heathens, most likely to be distant copies of Legasso! Red flag number five, Reed already stated that he wasn''t a nice person, so this can''t just be deceiving looks! "Look at him," I hissed. "The way he walks, the way he behaves..."


    My own nervousness and rage mixed together, making me feel like I was about to jump out of my skin and blast off. Heathens are our enemy, and they deserve only the most painful and excruciating death! I was just as nervous though, since it''s been too long since I''ve ever seen one up close and personal like this, and yet the one person I care about on Earth is literally face to face with one right now. What do I do?


    Before either Reed or I could say anything, Peterson finished his doughnut, huffing for some strange reason before heading to the sink, filled with a piling mess of pots and pans, all while Reed went for what he came in for, a bottle of water from the pantry. It was then when I heard the aggressive and manly yell. "Is somebody going to get over here and do these dishes?!"


    At that point, it felt as if my heart and blood stopped frozen for a few seconds, my mind tracing between ancient memory and this very moment. The additional context and the way Peterson was obviously treating Reed was all I needed to know to confirm the gut feeling from within, that the very person I was observing matched what I feared it did, up to about 89%. Unable to hold back anymore, I went into immediately fight or flight autopilot, drawing my frozen saber and preparing to slay the demon before me! "Heathen!"


    "Whoa! Relax Lumina! Heel!"


    My hand gripped the sword handle too tightly, for it was about to break, and I only now realized that my physical proximity did not allow me to directly engage and destroy the enemy. It didn''t deter me from my desire to kill this one. "I''ll fucking kill him! I''ll rip his neck from his spine and turn that husk of skin into confetti! He''ll know no greater pain!"


    I didn''t care what Reed thought of me in the moment; I didn''t even think about it, my focus stolen by this immense threat before us. However, Junko also seemed to catch voice of what was going on, especially since I was going loud and vocal in my complaint. "Easy does it Lumina! You''re there for Reed, not to get even with heathens."


    I knew already that Reed would be unable to hear Junko talking, since she was doing so telepathically on an unshared link. But she still doesn''t understand the situation. This heathen is directly in Reed''s life, so it is all of our business now. He''s an enemy, and he must die!


    "Stop Lumina!" Reed suddenly seemed interested in getting the hell out of that area, retreating to his room. "Uh, I''ll be in my room for a while. I got lots of homework to do."


    "You got tones of chores to do in this house too!" Peterson yelled with so much hatred and so much rage, it was an enigma on its own to why his mother wasn''t trying to end that madness and snap his neck instead.


    If he yells at my Reed like that one more time, I''ll fly this ship down there and kill him myself! Reed''s solutions seems to be retreating and running away to his room. While it was a nice bonus to hear Marrie and Peterson finally argue, I needed to see far more justice than that! "You don''t have to take that crap! Get back in there and go knock some teeth loose!" I won''t stand for this! I won''t allow some asshole to force his way into Reed''s life and mess everything up, not after all this!


    "Lumina! I will force you to calm down now if you don''t yourself!" Another threat from Junko, which I ignored again.


    "What is your deal right now?" His reaction already reminded me that he must have been missing some information from the purge, as well as some of our shared influence.


    "That guy is an absolute heathen! He follows the same behavior patterns as Legasso! I know it, because we were all trained on what to look out for. They''re one and the same! And that means this man needs to die!"


    "Oh give me a break! There is no doubt that Peterson is an absolute dicklord. But for god''s sake, he isn''t a mass murderer."


    "Not yet you mean. He is fully capable of the same if motivated." Legasso wasn''t a mass murderer either when he started out, but everybody always seems to change, especially on that world. All heathens want the same thing; power, control, forced loyalty, respect where it is never earned, and the will to inflict damage on others for their own shortcomings. Peterson is not the first of his kind to show up on Earth, and I knew this can only end badly.


    "I had no idea you were this hostile to the people that you hate."


    "Only to heathens! They''re the enemy of The Unity, enemies of us both!"


    "You''re just getting carried away. That guy isn''t totally evil, not like Legasso."


    After giving myself a moment to breathe, I finally managed to calm down a little, even though Reed was still wrong about his own words. "Oh this should be fun to watch. Just you wait. The heathen in your kitchen will play nice for now, but over time, he will only get worse and worse. All heathens do! And when they grow into that behavior, they never change back!"


    Silence endured for a few seconds, allowing us to think more while I waited on Reed for his understanding... Even if he thinks this rage is so unusual, to us, it''s the most natural feeling in the world after what Legasso did to us. I''ve seen so much additional harm be made by heathens on Earth, some by other females, but mostly by heathens. Even without that context, Reed should understand how wrong Peterson''s behavior is. He doesn''t deserve to be treated that way!


    "I''m sorry that Legasso killed all those people, and the people you loved... But you can''t just lash out like that every time you see a man through my eyes. It doesn''t get either of us anywhere."


    "Euh..." His words weren''t all that shocking, but it was very similar to the warning Junko just gave me... He''s right about one thing. Trapped up here, all I can do is get mad, scream, and threaten, though my voice will never be heard by the heathens who deserve to hear our wrath, and I doubt Reed will parrot our anger willingly. "Alright... I won''t freak out about it, for now. But stay the hell away from him. He''s evil, and he''s dangerous. Count on it! I don''t want you to put up with any of that."


    "Fine, I''ll avoid him for tonight. It''s not like I got much choice, since I have all this homework to do." Reed didn''t try to hide how daunting his tasks seemed, pulling out folders and stacks of paper. "Some of the work is studying. Of course, it''s not like I learned much in class today. Somebody made sure that didn''t happen."


    "Somebody must have dragged you away from your studies for one day. Oh what horror shall you be wrapped up in without your perfect scores?" Why do parents make perfect grades in school so important? They have a significance, but not one that should precede everything else in life.


    "You invaded my mind, my school, and my apartment. It''s too late for me to be bothered by it now."


    Is he trying to say that he isn''t bother by my presence anymore? Wait, "You live in an apartment?" I thought all this time it was a different kind of housing complex... Now I''m confused on the difference.


    "My mom does, and I mostly live with her. But every weekend, I get to spend two nights at my dad''s house."


    "That''s a decent setup. I''m glad you are still doing that." Nigel was mostly a positive influence in his life, so some time away from the enemy and with his father is a good thing in my book. "Want to skip the homework and go for a walk outside?"


    I wasn''t sure if he would agree to the offer, but Reed thought about it for nearly half a minute before getting back to me, frozen in thought. "You know, normally, I''m not the kind of guy who skips homework to show an imaginary girl around."


    "Normally? What makes you think any of this is normal for either of us?"


    "Good point... Fine. But only for one hour."


    I threw my arm up in the air with a cheer after getting some more time with him. "Then let''s adventure, human companion!"


    "Just, Lumina! Stop that."


    "Fine." I changed my tone to be as monotone and void of excitement as possible. "Let''s go on adventure, or whatever." My altered response got him to chuckle slightly, and the moment seemed to last as a strange kind of bitter sweetness. I was never able to get Reed to be convinced of our own existence, but despite that, he was more than willing to talk to me after going outside to walk in the sunlight and cool air.


    Reed and I enjoyed what next time we had together, as I got to relax and listen to how he has evaluated much of his own life, about how he remembers moments of his past, what was important anyway. In return, I gave one of my secrets up to him, sharing with him about every little moment of his past I watched growing up (minus some awkward moments I won''t mention yet). He seemed interested to learn what I knew about him, what I learned when I still had my long range clairvoyance, which kind of wrapped back around into the reasons I purged him, as it pertained mostly to wanting to befriend him and hang out afterwards. Even though I mentioned this more than once before, it felt like he was actually listening normally this time, quietly processing like he always does.


    Before we knew it, one hour turned into two, and Reed went home to finish his homework while I kept quiet during his work as promised. I got to really see in depth what some of his homework was about. By the time night fall came, he was an absolute mess, an exhausted mess.


    "I''m so tired," he complained, unable to shake the strong drain dragging him down. "And mega thirsty too." Slamming yet another bottle of water down, he savored every last drop.


    "Yeah, telepathic connections can do that sometimes. And we''ve been connected all day, so drink up." I''ve been passively drinking water too without mentioning it, but everything else aside, I was feeling perfectly fine. I wasn''t tired or drained from this connection, probably because it was a decent strength connection, and because I never sleep.


    "I didn''t know that could happen. Does telepathy really dehydrate me or something?"


    "Of course. Any time a person uses any psionic power, they have to stay hydrated. Without enough water, the effects could be harmful for both of us, and I want none of that danger." I don''t know if the scales are ever the same for drain between Altiri and humans, but this basic principle is drilled in a lesson about post-purge operations. It still has me wondering more about how our own bodies produce endless amounts of biological energy, when we drink but never eat, and when we live but never sleep. There must be something more to that on a cellular level, something even I''m unable to know.


    "Yeah..." Reed was more than just drained, and it was beginning to show quickly, while the telepathic connection became weaker quickly, a sign of impending physical and mental exhaustion. "I''m going to bed Lumina."


    "And that means this first connection will have to end..."


    "You''ll have to do the honors. I know nothing about this, remember?"


    This is it! This is the moment where things will succeed or fail. "Okay, so here''s how this works. Right now, either one of us can kill the connection. It doesn''t take a lot of effort to do. But afterwards, only you can initiate telepathic contact with me again, and only in the morning, after you''ve been awake for one full hour, when you''ve regained your energy."


    "Okay..."


    "But in order to do so, you really have to focus hard on the sensation you can feel right now. It''s much harder to explain than to just try yourself. Luckily, that purge has already trained your brain''s subroutines to handle it, so you will always be capable." Explaining this process is nearly impossible, but I was assured it isn''t necessary. "The purge skips the step of how and only focuses on the what aspect of psionic projection. You''ll know how to call me back if you focus on that sensation currently in your mind, and on me." I know that he understands what I''m saying, enough to make it happen again. I didn''t purge some random fool.


    "Come on. Get to the point already."


    "I''m serious! You''ve been telepathically connected to me all day. So your brain should know what sensation to tap into, what emotion to feel, what psionic signature to lock onto. Just close your eyes tomorrow, and focus on calling me back with all the power you''ve got. Use the power of your mind. Use your psionic sense to call my name with utmost will, and concentrate on how this feels in your head."


    "Are you by chance referring to this slight buzzing tingling sensation inside my head?"


    "Yes. That will be your way of contacting me again. Once you succeed, that new connection will last all day long, until we kill it again. The cycle continues like that after day one."


    "Okay... And what happens if I instead do nothing?"


    I couldn''t hide the disappointment of hearing that as I slumped a bit lower with a saddened sigh. Does he really want to make that choice, to never contact me ever again, to throw away all that progress that we both made together? I want to force more connections if it were a power within me, but it isn''t. Reed won''t be able to sense my effort to call him, but I will sense his. He has to be the one to make this choice, no matter what risks are up in the air. "Then I promise you, one hundred percent, you will never hear my voice again. You will never know what it is like to have me by your side every day, living through your senses."


    "Never-ever?"


    "Well... To be honest, you would actually have to avoid contacting me for ten or eleven consecutive months to permanently lose this ability for good. If you stop using telepathy for that long, it will cause psionic atrophy, and you really will lose it for the rest of your life. But now I''m just being specific. The choice is still yours. I can''t be the one to call you after tonight. You have to be the one to make that work."


    "But how does something like that work?"


    "When you go to project the signal, think only of me. It will help concentrate your thoughts. Focus on that buzzing sensation again, and focus on me at the same time; desire my connection. I''ll feel it from here. And once I do, I''ll lock onto your psionic signature, perform the same steps, and then stabilize the connection for the both of us."


    "I see..." Reed lost himself in deep thought for a moment, and I couldn''t pick up on what he was trying to process, though he decided to just tell me afterwards. "Did you really do all of this just for fun?"


    "I... Well... I mean, I''m serious about this." Why can''t I answer him? I didn''t do this for fun, but this single day I''ve spent with Reed has been the most fun I''ve had in such a long time. I can''t deny that some part of me is selfish in this, but I can''t tell him that either. What''s more, the way I feel about him now, it''s stronger than it was before, yet new and confusing, in ways I don''t understand.


    "I understand. Okay Lumina. I''ll call you tomorrow... Maybe." The very admission that he might not was enough to make me cringe visibly, though it wasn''t an assured ''no'' either, so some hope managed to survive inside.


    "I really hope so. See you later Reed... Good night."


    "Good night."


    Even though it pained me much more to do this, I knew I had no other choice but to let this moment go, to cut off the connection myself, so that Reed could get the sleep he needs. When it was done and over, I slowly sank to the ground with Junko standing beside me, curious in watch for all that happened.


    "Are you okay Lumina?"


    Something took all my breath away, so I couldn''t breathe or speak. Junko tried to help me stand up, but I didn''t want to move. Instead, every minute of today flashed before my mind over and over again, until I finally returned to reality, realizing how much had actually happened, and how much was said. Without understanding why, I sat down in tears, my heart cracking without breaking, my mind racing from too much uncertainty. "I don''t think so."


    The moment was strange and unique for both of us, and Junko did all she could to hold and comfort me. I wasn''t a total wreck, but I wasn''t all put together either, not after collecting all that happened. "Did he agree to return a connection next day or not?"


    While the answer wasn''t a hard yes or a hard no, I knew already what the probability was that he would ever call me back, and that thought put some expression on my face that answered for Junko alone. "I''ll have to wait to be sure, but I don''t think he will... He doesn''t even believe that we exist." Surely there were additional issues, but all I cared about in the moment was being able to hear his voice again. The new silence that now existed from his absence hurt far worse than I ever thought it would...


    What do I do now?

 Chapter 023: Plausibility Factor

    <hr>


    <11/02/149,566 {Avion 148} - 01:01 | Corral Position, Genosis, Altiri Sector Space>


    <Karnak to ACS414 Date Equivalent: 11/02/2010>


    <Telepathic Link: Disabled>


    For the first time in all my life, the few hours I waited, and the few more hours left to reveal, felt longer than most times I spent entire days bored and arrest. I didn''t have time until now to appraise how much happened between us two, our lives greatly changed, or so I''d hope.


    Like before, I was still an emotional mess, my greatest fears overshadowing everything else. It didn''t surprise me that I was visited again by my other sisters, those who could afford to leave their pilots for my sake. Though I never asked for anyone to come here to support what I was going through, the others showed up anyway, wanting to talk about all that happened, some wanting only updates for not being able to track what was all going on.


    Even though she had said it before, Junko was the first to lift my spirits where possible, though all she could offer was sympathy. "You can''t blame yourself for the way things might go. It''s common human nature to be skeptical of our existence, even through such an involved process of a purge."


    "I still have to wonder though, just how important this purge is to Reed." Rose spoke up after, revealing her intention to deliberate where I might have gone wrong. "A purge is still a very big deal to a human, and I would have expected more acceptance to our ways then outright denial. Lumina? Was there any specific reason why Reed wouldn''t have wanted to be purged?"


    "Have you abandoned your memory, Rose?" I knew I shouldn''t need to remind her, just how wrong she was. Even the earliest of all purges had such dramatic and unwanted personal effects on the human nodes. "Reed must have gone through similar things, personality changes that he never wanted, or mental confusion from the montrum we forced onto him. Even though he''s no different this year than he was last year, the entire experience must have frightened him. He''ll sooner think he has gone mad before he actually starts to believe we exist, all perceptions aside."


    "This isn''t good Lumina. If Reed refuses to call you back after long enough, then all of us will be incarcerated for the crimes we now share."


    "Lulu? I don''t care about that right now." I knew I was unable to stop my other sisters from worrying about our inevitable punishment, the possibility drawing ever closer. It isn''t the reason I purged Reed, nor is it the reason I tried so hard to get him to believe us.


    "Well you should!" Hurma spat in her distant reply. "The evidence is already clear that this boy you chose is a heathen, and even if he wasn''t, he still wants nothing to do with us. Either way, the queen will have our heads for this... I told you it would have been better to coerce him into our faith."


    "I really don''t need this right now Hurma." Certain she was going to continue, I intentionally blocked her out, letting Hurma simmer where she was. Even between myself and my sisters, I do have the ability to cease hearing their telepathic chatter at will, and so I left myself to the mercy of those here with me in person.


    "It''s not over yet. We have to give this a chance everyone!" Talor, as determined and hopeful as ever was the one voice I needed to hear right now, though it did little to have any real impact, the others judging her faith.


    Fionne first went after my very own actions. "I still want a recap of everything you did Lumina. Even from where I was earlier, I felt so much within you for so long. I''ve never seen you so emotionally volatile like this. I don''t know what it was all about, but if you cannot keep your own cool while linked to Reed, that in itself might be the problem."


    Was it though? All I did was behave as I normally would, even though I''ve never done this before. Which moment is she referring to exactly? Junko picked up some of my slack before I could chime in.


    "There was one moment that nearly got out of hand. You see everyone, it appears that when Reed''s parents had split up for divorce, a new figurehead stepped into his life. Both Lumina and Reed simultaneously agree that this person is undoubtingly a heathen. That explains some of the hostile emotions you sensed earlier."


    "Even so," I corrected while thinking back, "I don''t think Reed felt as angry as I did. He was basically being bullied by the guy, and he just let it sink in. I think I overreacted to it a little. Maybe he ignores it for his own physical safety, but I don''t know."


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    "That doesn''t sound correct, at least not entirely." Sherika was next to give her opinion, but I saw Rose nodding in agreement with her. "You were the one who told us that the purge did not fulfill total completion, particularly to the non-vital phase five of information transfer. Even though you literally gave him details of our history today, he probably has not had enough time to process it the same way. It''s possible that Reed will not hold the same hatred of heathens that we deserve to. Even if he deems this character to be evil, he hasn''t suffered in the same personal loss as we have... And yet you expect someone so new and young to understand this?"


    There it was, the grilling I had been waiting for. I felt I had done something wrong today, but I couldn''t be all sure what it was. Instead, every single word Reed and I exchanged between each other dominated all I could think about. Even though I was linked with all my sisters, it felt like something bigger was missing already, some huge hole left behind in the silence that never was before now. I couldn''t explain why I was so addicted to the sensation of this sacred connection; all I knew is that I needed to have it more.


    Rose continued where her co-pilot left off. "As Sherika says, there is a lot of new information given to Reed in this very first purge, complicated further by a partial malfunction in the purge itself. While we are very lucky that the purge did its basic job despite its near failure never happening to most before, I fear, with a lack of personal connection between Reed and our world, he will without a doubt sever this connection and move on. Lumina? I don''t think Reed is as attached to you as you feel towards him. If he isn''t the curious type, he won''t be attached to montrum of our world either. So, I must ask you; what else have you tried doing for him?"


    It took me a long time to reply, as there was much said I needed to process. Hearing that I was attached to Reed at all made me rethink my vocal reasons for purging him to begin with. Yeah, there were several reasons why I did it, but now I''m really wondering if all of this was a total mistake. "I..." Once again distracted by the hundred tugs of my heart in all directions, I paused again, addicted to the memories I made anew. "I did try to encourage him a little, to think for himself, to help him realize he isn''t as average as he presumes himself to be, and to prove our existence using my own observational skills. However, he didn''t buy it."


    "This is strange, about Reed''s reaction I think." Does Junko really think that?


    "It''s hard to be sure, but I think he is actually a little depressed already. I was right about his one desire, to make and have as many amazing friends as possible. He has difficulties talking to people in school, even though he had some progress during the purge, progress that somehow went backwards while we weren''t around... I wish I could just be there for him, to help him feel better." After I said this, all of my sisters here went mute, staring at me as if I was the new alien, though many had soft smirks I didn''t recognize.


    Talor broke the silence to paint out what she felt. "You''re something else Lumina. All the mess we''re in, and all you can think about is still making Reed happier... If I didn''t know any better, I''d start to think you fancy him, something deeper than the perceived attachment."


    "C¡ª can you really picture me in that situation? Come on Talor." No matter how I sounded though, her mere insinuation made me wince ever so slightly, my heart beating a bit faster at the thought. I was certain I didn''t feel that way, but I dared not think on it any longer.


    "Careful as you want to be, we might be able to make this work..." Junko spent a few seconds under watch of the others and myself, coming up with some kind of plan I must have missed. "Maybe your approach to this was best after all. You know, if Reed simply wants friendship, don''t be afraid to remind him that we are here to support him. You might make more progress trying to help him as you want to, if you focus on helping him learn to talk to humans better."


    "I already know this Junko. However, Reed won''t listen to a thing I say on the matter if he doesn''t believe we even exist."


    "And why is that, hm?" As she asked me something obvious, I still didn''t understand her. "Believing we exist and taking our advice are two different subject matters. Why would he need to believe in you as a requirement for you to show him how much you care? If the entire reason you purged Reed was really to help him, then you should make this your top priority, above all else."


    I was breathless hearing her words, so certain my sister was right. Fionne however went to protest the idea. "But that isn''t her top priority, remember? The Queen stated already that if he doesn''t wind up in a position where he can prove he is not against The Unity, and is not a heathen, then helping him or not, none of this matters."


    "You all let me worry about the queen." My statement bold, my sisters listened without interruption, though some were uneasy about where this was going. "I''m not doing any of this for her. I''m only doing this for myself and Reed. I still think I can prove what we need to this way. I know what kind of trouble we are in already, but we can''t forget the very reason we purge people. I don''t aim to control him; I only want to help him, and to ensure he never turns into a heathen."


    "... If you still think you can pull this off, why were you so upset hours ago?"


    "Because Fionne, even I still have doubts... I got overwhelmed by it all, and there is still no certainty that Reed will call me back. I''m still upset by it right now." Crying won''t solve this though. I''ve run out of tears to spill, and the only thing I can do now is hope and wait, even if it hurts me.


    "Derria speaking. I think you have all the right intentions Lumina, but you still need to be very careful. Even if he does call you back, you cannot forget that the mental shock to him from news of our existence, whether he believes it or not is incredibly high, and dangerous on its own. Learn patience if you do get a second chance, and please assure your node that he isn''t going insane... The last thing we need from this is a repeat of experiment number thirteen."


    Derria needed not remind me, but I felt better all the same hearing advice from everyone. I didn''t do too much wrong besides overreacting a bit here and there, but no matter what happens now, I need to be patient and cautious, so that I don''t overload Reed with too much either. "I will be careful. Thank you, all of you for being here with me."


    It''s what my good family does, even though some of them don''t agree with any of this even now. In a few more hours from now, I''ll either hear from my new friend, or I''ll never hear from him again. Maybe a few days would go by before he decides to contact me again, but for my own sanity, I''m sure I can''t last more than 18 hours.


    I have to hear his voice again, to feel all he felt in that strange body, and to feel the hum of his fast mind, exchanging so many words between each other that it was its own eternal sonata. Please Reed; please link with me again.

 Chapter 024: Weaponized Montrum

    <hr>


    <03/29/149,518 {Avion 148} ¨C 16:55 | Research Station NC-3, Genosis, Altiri Sector Space>


    <Karnak to ACS414 Date Equivalent: 03/29/1962>


    Though most of my days spent in the past were not so memorable, the instance of purge experiment #13 became a moment always jumping at me later on. In the human era of 1962, I cared only about selective factors of people and their lives as we watched with our clairvoyant powers, wanting and waiting for something interesting.


    Like most, I was constantly bored, yet I had forgotten through time that all which may come to interest us, isn''t always good for the person of interest. I wasn''t thinking about that in the beginning of the moment though, as myself, Sherika, and Derria split off from our aggressor group to independently board a distant research station. The idea to look into this development was not of my own, yet we were already arriving from the docking station, soon to be greeted by the scryers who work here.


    I actually don''t care to be here. This was initially Sherika''s desire. Like many other Altiri, she had been wanting to learn more about a recent development in a special report regarding one of the purge experiments. Sherika asked the entire aggressor group to go with her, and to my own surprise, I wasn''t the only one who could care less. Only Derria offered to go, and I was guilted into going since the station had a strange rule about having at least three aggressor group representatives dock to learn of the report. I didn''t voice any of my concerns though, bored as I was. I simply let Sherika absorb herself with the wealth of information she was looking forward to, or however she put it.


    "I know you don''t really want to be here Lumina, but at least pretend to understand the significance of this moment." Sherika turned to speak to me while continuing to walk herself backwards in where we were going, and she didn''t hide that she knew how I felt, being linked and all.


    Derria might be the type to go along to get along, but I''m not exactly set in this way. "I shouldn''t have to pretend anything Sherika. You know already that I don''t care about this stuff as much as you do, so why ask for me to play the part in the first place?"


    "Because the scryers who work here put in a ton of effort getting the information they were able to get."


    "Yeah, filtered and redacted information," I reminded precariously. Sherika isn''t exactly wrong in her statement. The scryers who work at these research stations are a rank below the Royal Scryers who run all information of The Unity. The Royal Scryers are the ones who know every little detail about purge subjects and the aggressor groups handling those purges. Ordinary scryers can conduct psionic research relatively unimpeded, except when it comes to any identifiable information pertaining to either Altiri or humans involved in a purge or even a potential purge candidate.


    So, the only other way to collect psionic information from the human world, for anything relevant at least, is to get that information from what is learned about the different form of telepathy between an Altiri node and a human node, or in other terms, a single purge, or purge experiment as the scientific scryers call them. Since that information is well-guarded, the Royal Scryers won''t give it up willingly, but in furthering the interest of empirical psionic research and data, the Royal Scryers will often take what they learn, change and redact names to fictitious values, and allow only the scientific aspects of data and numbers to be published. If instead the report is more anecdotal, then everything about the story with redone, fictitious names, locations, exact timeframes, and other renamed elements.


    This is actually the process by which our own psionic research has been slowly advancing, if ever so slowly. There are some interesting things to be learned by studying humans, especially in those who get purged, since they might develop unusual psionic abilities not native to our own kind. The research itself has mostly hit a brick wall for a long time, and even with new purges going on, that wall is hard to push back.


    So yeah, these ordinary scryers of Research Station NC-3 probably worked really hard and begged the higher-ups for some sort of report; I''m not denying that. What I don''t care for, is the idea of coming all this way to learn nothing of value concerning psionics. I''ve already been hearing rumors about this case, since it has been out for a while, and one aspect to the rumors is that little if any of the report contains new information on psionic fields and energy, let alone nothing about special ability development. Therefore, I have every right to be bored out of my mind right now.


    In partial disagreement, Derria nearly copied Sherika''s movement while Sherika reset her own walking pace, looking at me with longing eyes of desperation, likely just a ploy to have me feel the same as her. "Aren''t you the least bit curious about Two-Week Girl?"


    "Two-Week Girl?" I nearly laughed at the stupid name. I know Derria wasn''t the one who was calling it that... Is the report really titled "Two-Week Girl?" In any case, I have heard of the phrase already, from those telepathic rumors we ask about.


    The queen has a strong adherence to her communication ban between all parties to or from aggressor groups where it concerns anything personal and often tactical. Violations are not nothing, but it isn''t an intense punishment if caught red-handed either. Even so, many engage in rumor and muddle up the details on purpose, almost as a kind of cipher to prevent any trace back to who may have started such rumor or other details which might highlight attention to a particular Altiri individual. Apparently, if I heard right, the purge is about Purge #13, and the unknown individual is being dubbed "Two-Week Girl" because her purged started and finished in the span of only two weeks. The purge itself is not recent, but for some unusual reason, details about this are being released (after being filtered) to scryers, people like those on this very station, who we are about to meet. I don''t actually know if the two-week purge thing is true; not all details about a rumor make total sense, and I for one do not believe this to be true.


    "All the same," Sherika spoke up as we approached the presentation room, "you''re free to listen, or just walk around if you really are that bored. However, if possible, I want to be the one to ask them questions, unless they don''t care about limitations."


    "I always forget Sherika can be like this." I barely whispered loudly enough for Derria to hear me, though a slight wince from Sherika told me she heard me anyway, despite ignoring my comment.


    "So what if she is? I happen to like that about Sherika. She''s always interested in learning about psionics. She''s also smart, much like Rose, just more outspoken about it. If anything, it wouldn''t shock me if Rose and Sherika ever one day decide to become scryers themselves."


    I''ve thought about the same idea myself a while back. Becoming a scryer has some benefits that aggressor groups don''t have, and one of those benefits is the ability to combat boredom. In human language, the closest equivalent to a scryer would be a scientist. Scryers are always out to collect data, get answers, and learn more about the world around us. Our prolonged resource shortage makes most scientific fields of study very difficult to conduct, but for the field of psionics, that isn''t as much a problem. Physical and electronic equipment is not needed to study psionics, only our brains must do the work. Now that we can partially combine what we learn from ACS414 and our own spectrum of psionic research, some more has been learned too, but there is still a cut-off point.


    This is one reason I didn''t want to become a scryer; learning more about the world would be awesome, but I want to only take part in something if I can always learn more. There have been some new and amazing developments about psionics ever since the purges began, but lately, not too much has been uncovered... I think I would go mad if I spent all my life trying to learn more about something, only to learn nothing or so little. If Sherika wants that role, fine, but I''m not going to join her if she does, not for this reason at least. Human behavior, for better or worse is far more interesting to me, because there seems to be no limit. I thought I had humanity pegged entirely, but with each new generation of births also comes lots of change in that world, and so there is always something to learn. Aggressor Groups have special privileges to use clairvoyance on ACS414 constantly and exclusively; we don''t have to be scryers to study humans. Let''s ignore the fact that scryers also get more or less the same privileges regarding clairvoyance.


    "I''ll just hang back and listen in." I didn''t want to give either of my sisters the idea that I was being rude. I really don''t want to let them down. Sherika begged me to go with her, since coming out this way would have been easier with my presence, since I have a leadership rank and all. I''m still going to let them do the talking though.


    Before long, we entered the presentation room, separate from many other facilities onboard designed for different areas and levels of research. The central terminal was already powered on and linked to an enlarged monitor to view the relevant documents and files. They would have had to carry a portable cartridge with the data on it over here from the temple, since none of the terminals are networked between ships or stations. I could already tell this was going to be one of those things where the scryers try to explain the details for us, instead of just allowing us to read in silence. All the same, there were plenty of places to sit in silence and listen, but first we had to greet the unfamiliar faces.


    "Sherika! Hey! Welcome to the meeting."


    "Good day to yourself Lovithica. Hope you haven''t tired yourself out going over this to everyone else."


    Sherika knows her? When did she buddy up with random scryers? Hm, I ''m just going let this play out. I stood patiently with a smile, waiting to be introduced, ensuring my internal thoughts were a bit silent and mute for now. We Altiri do not have to be telepathically linked to read our own minds after all.


    "Ehahah, yeah you know I''m going to lose my voice sooner or later, but it looks like you and I care most about learning more, and this case is interesting to say the least. Oh, but I seem to be excusing my lack of greeting to your friends." Lovithica looked right at me and Derria, waiting on either us or Sherika to introduce her only company, and Sherika naturally did all of the talking.


    "Right, right. Lovithica? This is Derria, my sister and one of my co-crew for our ship. The other one is Lumina, leader of our collective unit of the Cy-Stars."


    "Good to meet you Lovithica." Derria and I both said this at the same time, though I wasn''t expecting the abrupt hug she gave us after. I didn''t oppose to the hug, but it gave me too many sensations at once to react normally. Also, she has an interesting name for a Scryer, the pronunciation being (L¨­-v¨©-th?-kah).


    "My name is Skirie. I''m Lovithica''s partner. I used to specialize as a scryer of human dreams, but my interests eventually shifted to moments like this one." The woman was in all aspects beautiful and young looking; a sign that she has had many more resurrections than average for Altiri, and also, her pronunciation just now was (Sky-r?), for anyone confused about the unique spelling.


    "Human dreams huh?" I don''t know if my tone came off as disinterested or subtle, but her past study reminded me of another benefit scryers stick to. A scryer can of course specialize in any field of study they want, and leave whenever they want; there isn''t any long-term obligation to lock one''s self into any position or voluntary job.


    "Yep. We can''t ever see any details about what these dreams look like, but people talk about them sometimes. The Royal Scryers are supposed to give out some information on it since we could learn more from knowledge of purged subjects, but, that hasn''t happened too often."


    I was interested in human dreams, but not as enthusiastic as Skirie was right now. Nevertheless, I''m sure my presence here is registered enough for me to go and sit down... I''m in a strange mood today. "Interesting. I''m just here to listen today, but please answer any questions either of us have." I nodded to Sherika, caring not if she was trying to get me to make any particular impression, while I took my seat in waiting.


    It was a few minutes before the meeting officially started. Both of these two scryers have had the opportunity to discuss this in great lengths to many interested parties, and will continue to do so until this rumor dies down. At the very least, I''m glad they both feel honored to get the credit for delivering this report. When we all took our seats, Lovithica and Skirie remained standing, Skirie on the terminal for occasional data scrolling and the Lovithica facing us as a presenter.


    <hr>


    Chapter Theme Shift: Dimensional Pulsation ~ Raven of Light (Dimensional Journey)</a>


    <hr>


    "So, we''re here today to discuss a special case file concerning purge experiment number thirteen, or as we will refer to, Mylla." Despite Lovithica''s enthusiasm, I had to pause in my own mind to confirm what I already knew. Mylla''s name among many others soon to be used is fictitious. The person is real, but the name will be altered to protect her identity. "Purged by reference name AG-13, Mylla has captured our interest for a variety of reasons. The very first and most important detail which stands out here is the record setting purge cycle duration. We already have the longest record of a purge on file going for two years, with an average of nine months. However, Mylla is a special outlier, because her purge completed in only the time of two weeks, which occurred in the first month of this very same year."


    This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    I didn''t want to show any feeling to this given what I already said to Sherika, but hearing that first part of the news was shocking in itself. The rumors spoke truth then? Mylla only had to wait two weeks to be purged? And how is this allowed to be shared when the purge was so recent ago?! Details about purged humans only ever get released about a hundred years after the human node dies.


    Seeing she had our interest, Lovithica continued. "There are a number of outliers to this purge, and in fact we don''t yet understand what happened to make this purge accelerate with such speed; it wasn''t intentional, according to testimony provided by AG-13. With Mylla''s recent missing status, many are already calling this specific purge a failure, for reasons beyond physical means at least."


    "Missing status? So this wasn''t a successful purge? Tell me she''s at least alive!" Derria was just as concerned as I was, though I was glad she was the one asking instead of me.


    "Whether or not Mylla''s life is expired is not something we yet know of. I pressed on this detail with the Royal Scryers, but they didn''t want to tell me that information, which leads me to believe she might still be alive, and possibly rejected the link. Truth be told, I don''t really know if she is alive or dead, and AG-13 might not yet know it either."


    Skirie spoke about this some more after Lovithica have herself a second to breathe. "In any case, what we quickly learned from this experience, putting all personal details aside, is that this two-week purge had some serious and adverse side-effects on the target individual, most of these side effects not being something anyone would wish for... The montrum induced by the purge would have been extra powerful, perhaps more so from motivating influences of this global space race the humans have going on. While it isn''t mentioned in a concise manner, enough mentions about the montrum suggest that the specific montrum Mylla underwent was one of the most intense of all its time. Essentially, each and every effect and cycle of this purge was amplified far beyond what would be considered ordinary, since its speed was hastened. Whether or not all information made it through is unknown as well."


    I couldn''t deny it, and neither could Sherika. "This is awful you two! Why are so many people excited to learn about something so terrible?" Sherika knew as well as I did that, if any particular woman on Earth was found worth purging by anybody, then they would have to be an exceptional person in many aspects, a caring soul who many could love, and so AG-13 must be heartbroken right now.


    "Many don''t yet know the specifics of even what we have shared with you, though by the end of a few more cycles, everyone will know. The rumors floating around do mention that no new psionic information can be learned about this purge. While I personally attest that this is inaccurate, Skirie nor I prioritize the significance of that to the personal hell Mylla is suffering."


    At last, I decided to speak my mind, angry at myself that I assumed this would be so mundane. "Don''t you think the Royal Scryers should just tell AG-13 what her actual status is? I know that those clowns are certain of her whereabouts, and they''re not saying everything. If she really is suffering from a broken purge, she should get to hear why from her own pairing."


    "Lumina, was it?" Skirie seemed to take interest in me for some reason, lacking the same anxiety. "You''ve never actually looked at or examined in detail any report about a purged subject, have you?"


    "... No, why?"


    "Lovithica and I have, several times over. It''s what we have focused on for so long now. There are some personal and psychological factors of a purge you need to understand first, before understanding the reason why Mylla might not want to contact her own aggressor group. This isn''t looking like a case of, somebody got upset about the purge; rather, it''s looking a lot more like Mylla may have suffered from serious psychological ailments instead, resulting of course from this purge. We were able to confirm at some point she was taken to an undisclosed medical institution, even though she isn''t there presently. We unfortunately have more details on purge related data than anything else, and it is clear that at least the very first connection was maintained for a proper duration."


    I felt even worse trying to imagine any personal hell within the scope of someone''s own mind... Is the purge really such an intrusive tool, that it warps perceptions strongly enough to invoke pure insanity? Is that what happened to Mylla? Did the purge do too much too fast, turning her into a mental vegetable? "I... I can''t believe it."


    Lovithica seemed a little relieved to see my own reaction. "I''m glad all of you are sensible. I won''t mention who, but there have been a small number of people who didn''t show any sympathy for Mylla''s situation, not an ounce. They cared only about the empirical data and psionic aspects of this specific purge."


    "Lumina, Derria, and I are not that heartless... But it pains me to know there is nothing any of us can do."


    "Indeed there isn''t. You see, there are still many unknown aspects about the purge, even though we now have thirteen of them on file. Our goal as scryers in this instance is to hypothesize the reason why this one went so poorly, so that we might prevent a repeat instance in the future for those who want to invoke their own purge. It''s also important to see if we can learn any other factors about the purge in general from what Mylla went through, such as, why the montrum aspect of this purge was the very first part that went out of control before everything else."


    Despite how I felt going into this meeting before, it took everything within me to hold back, on curiosity and desperation to learn more about Mylla. Purging has become a recent hot topic among our race, and even I have at times had thoughts about purging specific human individuals. It makes me wonder what it would take, makes me dwell on what side-effect this would have for us and the target... I used to not care at all for how our interventions in the human world would affect their race if the consequences were potentially negative, which in Mylla''s case is the truth. It really doesn''t sit right with me.


    However, as Skirie just said, there were other details about the purge I was obviously missing. Our team learned about the purge more than once in a station just like this, yet even with repeat lessons and time, we don''t remember every little detail. "The montrum phase of the purge is only the second phase, right? That would mean, whatever went wrong with Mylla''s purge would have begun almost immediately."


    "Your memory is correct Lumina," Sherika credited. "The study of the purge as we learned states that montrum is a very important if not critical state of a purge... Though the reasons as to why still elude me." Sherika turned her gaze to Lovithica, assuming she might know the answer.


    "Some of those theories about each phase was initially theoretical, and some of it incidental at best, but we are certain that montrum plays a fully critical role in the drive and completion of the purge. I don''t actually understand why either. Herios never had time to explain why, before she died."


    "Tell me something you two..." I paused before asking, really imagining in depth all I could to come up with some kind of answer. "What exactly is a montrum? What does it feel like? I''ve heard the standard definition before, but it isn''t really helping me understand things anymore."


    Skirie offered to explain, despite warning us of the long winded explanation. "I have done studies on montrum, so I know a bit more, but still am limited in what I know. Montrum can come in many forms, and its definition is a bit vague, because the montrum that comes from a purge and one that occurs naturally have severe levels of difference in intensity. Montrum by definition is a mental obsession over a particular subject matter, an obsession so deep and strong, it overrides all other emotion in the moment. Many might refer to it as a good sensation for stimulus, because the brain is going full speed on the subject of a montrum."


    Derria raised her hand next to infer more on our behalf. "You said the montrum from a purge is different though. How?"


    "Normal montrums occur naturally, but a purge forces the brain to endure one. The subject matter of that montrum can be fairly selective, but given our nature, it''s more often about space or aliens. The subject matter isn''t what is important though. Simply having a montrum at all has effects on the brain and the body, and for some reason has a positive reaction to the Cora."


    "You''re saying that a strong enough montrum can boost psionic aptitude in a human?"


    "Yes," Skirie affirmed. "It is still very difficult to prove, but this case in particular highlights much about a montrum that we were not aware of before. I''m sorry Lumina, but describing how a montrum feels is difficult even for us, especially when the montrum scale is so different in a purge. You''d have to imagine a level of wonder and certainty combined together, and intensified a thousand fold. Montrum of this scale can open up the mind to many new experiences, but some of us have also wondered if it can cause psychological harm. It hasn''t before, but what happened to Mylla is very unique."


    "Let me guess," Derria returned with something in mind. "The montrum of the purge is supposed to be very intense, as a phase to increase the psionic aptitude of the target human. This montrum is mostly a psychological effect, changing exactly how the brain thinks and what the mind focuses on for subject matter. The purge forces this montrum to happen, and so as a result, the montrum in question is always powerful and overwhelming within a standard purge. But because Mylla''s purge was accelerated, you think the montrum phase was also accelerated too?"


    "This is mostly correct," Lovithica presented with interest. "We''re not actually sure which came first. Did the montrum spiral out of control first, causing everything else to accelerate in a harmful manner? Or, was this an instance where the montrum did most of the damage but wasn''t the main culprit? We unfortunately do not know. All we know about Mylla, is that in only the span of two weeks'' time, about eight months of Altiri information was crammed into her head, while at the same time, the montrum within her was powered on strongly, probably combining its aspect with the information phase of the purge, as well as combining with any unknown ability phase if ever it triggered. I can''t say for certain why this happened, but I am confident in deducing that Mylla suffered from powerful delusions and hallucinations from this, to a point where her entire reality was altered far beyond what the purge was designed to have her notice."


    "So then, she''s in a psyche ward? If she believes she is crazy, then this is worse than I imagined."


    Putting aside Derria''s concern, Lovithica reminded us what the unknowns were. "We cannot be certain where she is, but these effects have the potential to actually make Mylla clinically insane, by total definition. When a montrum becomes more powerful, anything else unusual experienced during that moment also becomes a stronger reality overlapped onto the direct sensory input. For all Mylla knows, she really might have gone insane from the purge, seen things that weren''t real but were tangible enough to her to believe it so. You could say, the purge worked too well as it started to shift her mind."


    "Are you sure that it was the montrum phase that did all this damage and nothing else?"


    "Mostly certain, yes. A purge was never designed to be dangerous or deadly in any regard, but the montrum aspect of it, especially being forced, can make the cycles of a purge more powerful. The montrum phase is almost like an amplifier for the rest of the signal and data input, and even when given to someone in safe amounts, the sensation of the montrum itself, as we''ve been told, can be a highly addictive sensation to those who are purged, mostly because the sensation is rare and never felt by any other means. The reason the montrum is the literal second phase of the purge is because, Herios was certain that without this phase, the other phases would fail to be motivated enough to function."


    "Okay... If the montrum aspect of a purge is not something most people understand too well, how in the world does it end up in the purge signals sent by the aggressor groups who do invoke purges?"


    "There''s a bit more complexity about the purge that I don''t understand. I''ve been told two contradicting statements, one that suggests that knowledge of the montrum is an initial requirement to properly send a purge, and another statement that suggests this montrum phase is a natural aspect of personal focus from psionic signature. I believe the second statement is true, because not all aggressor groups have had much knowledge on the aspects of a montrum."


    I didn''t want to keep asking the same question, to avoid looking like a dunce, but it was just so confusing to me. Basically, the montrum forced on humans by a purge, a powerful sensation of infinite wonder and curiosity combined with a mysterious level of self-certainty to that montrum, happens to be an amplifier for boosting psionic aptitude. Is a montrum an amplifier for all psionic signals and abilities, or just this one thing? If it was already powerful enough to control a person''s thoughts in an ordinary purge, I can''t imagine what Mylla went through.


    "What we do know, is that this certainty sensation within the montrum of a normal purge is just below the threshold value of what can effectively override affirmations within the psyche and, in a figurative sense, alter that person''s whole reality. So, if Mylla''s montrum was amplified uncharacteristically, then every perception of the purge she would have experienced would be far too real to deny, more potent than her own biological senses. For these reasons among other testimony, we believe that the quickened duration of her purge swiftly made her clinically insane in a number of ways. Of course, we are still waiting for more news to come out about this. It takes nine or so months for telepathy from a purge to atrophy if not properly used, so a lot might change within that time frame."


    "Now I''m beginning to wonder why this report was released in the first place." Sherika had the right idea questioning where the motivation for this was coming from, as I wanted to know too. Will Skirie explain?


    "The reasons are a combination of wanting to learn more about the purge from an unusual incident, and using that information to prevent the same incident from occurring. The Royal Scryers and the queen know what they are doing by enlisting our help without directly asking. If we can''t figure out what went wrong, and this isn''t some isolated incident, the very future of purges could be in jeopardy."


    "I really feel bad for Mylla though." Derria spoke what we were all thinking. "Considering current events on ACS414, I would imagine that the space race and launching into the atmosphere was probably all Mylla could think about. I wonder if she''s been living a life of entire fantasy while being stuck not knowing anything else for those two weeks, and I really hope somebody is taking good care of her."


    "It''s a messy situation for AG-13, because even if Mylla somehow does make a full psychological recovery, the experience itself will become a most powerful deterrent to reject any further contact with her own aggressor group. Testimony from AG-13 stated that Mylla wasn''t entirely all there when the purge completed and linked them together. I personally think the effects of the montrum were way too strong, and kept her in the altered state for too long even after the end of the purge cycle was finished."


    "Now I want to know what a montrum on that scale actually feels like." I don''t want to go insane either, but if something is strong enough that it can alter my very own thoughts and emotions, I have to know what it really feels like... But Altiri cannot be purged, so we cannot experience a montrum of that scale.


    "So far, all we''ve been able to confirm is that montrums have the power to be unintentionally dangerous, by extension of the purge. A montrum on its own is a kind of self-satisfying principle within the mind of any person at this power level, and so trying to resist its pull is impossible. Since the sensation is proving to be highly addictive in a fair amount of purged humans, we can only conclude that purging has more risk than we once thought for the target individual. We are also certain that montrum has some unknown boosting effect on psionic ability, though the exact specifics on why or how remain under investigation."


    "I''m getting the sense that this is all you can tell us about Mylla."


    "Sherika is correct," Lovithica answered. "We have a lot of unknowns and uncertainties, so we are working with all the facts first. The facts are, Mylla''s purge completed way too quickly, affected her mind in horrifying ways, and alerted us to a new potent danger of purging. This danger partly extends to aggressor groups too, since this would be considered a soft failure. If Mylla, recovered or not, chooses not to get in contact with AG-13 after this experience, then AG-13 would have lost their ability to purge for eternity, gaining nothing in return, and instead, living with the guilt that they unwillingly hurt someone in the process."


    Such admission was already a lot for me to handle. I hated the mere idea of our involvement in the human world hurting anybody worthy of our appraisal, or worthy of a purge for that matter. It reminded me that a purge can succeed while the overall goal of one can still falter. If for example a subject purged decides they do not believe in aliens despite what they went through and despite their montrum, then the purpose of that purge is lost. Other times, the stress of a purge alone might be too much for somebody to bear psychologically...


    Skirie is right. I should have studied more about these purges, to see what they are doing to these poor humans. If there has been even a single instance besides this one where any human has quit their own life over the shock of our presence, then purging should be something we avoid, the risks too great.


    How did the very first few humans react to our purge? What about every number before thirteen? What about every number after? I can see now why Sherika and Derria wanted to come. I''ll be sure to tell all my sisters about this moment when we get back... But much about this case still bothers me. If a montrum can cause this much psychological damage to a human, something that can rewrite someone''s subjective reality instantly on its face, then it means montrums can be weaponized. Maybe I''m overthinking it a little, but I really want to find out where Mylla is, just so that I can apologize to her on behalf of The Unity. This is not merely the responsibility of AG-13 and the scryers, but of all of us, for encouraging these purges as often as we do now. Somehow, I still feel that many more purges will arrive in the future, no matter what happens with Mylla and her group.


    "It sucks that we cannot control the duration of a purge as it does its job, the timing randomized. I can only hope this never happens again. Montrum might be the key in discovering where our powers come from, but it can also be a dangerous and addictive sensation to mess with." Skirie wasn''t joking around as she said this, and I agreed with every word. If we incidentally hurt even one more human from our own meddling, what will become of Humanity and The Unity?

 Chapter 025: Second Chance

    <hr>


    <11/02/149,566 {Avion 148} ¨C 07:11 | Corral Position, Genosis, Altiri Sector Space>


    <Karnak to ACS414 Date Equivalent: 11/02/2010>


    <Telepathic Link: Disabled>


    Even though it was only several hours that passed us by since our last link, I grew ever more anxious and impatient, wondering if I would ever hear a return call from the only voice I needed to hear right now. Without too much delay, it finally happened!


    Out of nowhere, I started to feel these pulsations of psionic projection, in a source I never felt before until today. I just knew they were coming from Reed, so I was quick to focus on them. I jumped up too fast though, so I had to alert Junko to what was going on. "I think this is it! Give me a moment alone Junko."


    Junko nodded, remaining in her seat as she understand what exactly I meant. She still needed to be in the cockpit, but for now I could be absent from the controls with everything in her care. I swiftly shut my eyes, concentrating more than ever before on reaching for that fading signal, pulsing like a heartbeat. It wasn''t as easy as I imagined it to be, but once I figured out what I needed to feel, and what familiar signature I needed to link my mind to, it wasn''t that difficult with further concentration.


    "Reed!" I shouted in telepathic excitement once I felt all these senses wash over me from the person I purged. This very moment filled me with so much hope and excitement, an acclimation that I had succeeded after all! I was just so happy to hear his voice again.


    After affirming that Reed did contact me correctly, I went to work ensuring the connection would be stable, which was an extra step I figured I''d have to take part in from now on. Since I was now used to his psionic signature, it wasn''t hard. I wanted to think everything was well, however, I soon misread the situation - only to be told just that.


    "Listen. I still have not yet decided whether or not I should trust you."


    "But..." I don''t get it. If he hasn''t changed his mind about believing in us, why did he call back? "Why did you even bother calling me then?"


    "Because," he struggled to explain, "I decided to ask more questions about your world, even though I have not brought myself to believe it. I don''t really know why, I guess." Reed didn''t sound too sure of himself, but something was strange about his response, something that reminded me all too much about a particular aspect of the purge I nearly forgot about; the phase of a montrum, something that can linger long after a purge cycle finishes its own job.


    Even if that is true, is it such a bad thing? Reed clearly has his wits about him, and if he is being lured into all of this by a powerful montrum, then it means he won''t want to let any of this go right away. It''s not a success or a fail; this is merely a second chance for all of us, and I have to recall my sisters'' advice on how to handle this; by helping Reed more than trying to convince him we exist. "I knew you couldn''t resist! Told you school was too boring and normal without a guide."


    "What guide? If I had you directing my actions at school, I would have ended up in a different place entirely."


    "Ah, there''s that passive aggressiveness. I see you are fully awake too then." It took some time for Reed to warm up to my presence again, but not as much as it did yesterday. I waited for him to board the bus before trying to go into any long-winded explanations, but when we did, I couldn''t help but resist asking about his montrum.


    "So Reed? I want to ask you about something. I think there is a particular sensation you are going through, something you mentioned before, about having a montrum for everything about us and about space."


    "What about it? Isn''t that your own doing from the purge?"


    "Well, yes, but we don''t fully understand the sensation itself... I''m just curious is all."


    "You make no sense sometimes. You''re supposed to be the intelligent know-it-all. How do you not understand how amazing a montrum feels?"


    Amazing huh? So it is true. Every mention about a montrum coming from a purged subject mentions montrum only in a positive regard rather than negative, except for poor Mylla. I wonder... Is he already addicted to the pull of a montrum? "Well, it is part of the purge, but I never actually felt what it was like, you know? Was it something that felt incredible? Did it feel more affirmative? How strong was it exactly?"


    "Strange questions, but okay I guess... The montrum was very powerful, controlling even, but it wasn''t a bad sensation. Near the end, I was becoming afraid, but the montrum never left regardless. It was as if, a sensation of certainty kept coming over me; like, I was sure without any logical reason that the Altiri were real and really out there. Also, for whatever reason, I felt like I wanted to live out the rest of my life in this incredible cold blizzard, in a snow bank that goes on forever. The amount of wonder and awe I felt from the montrum, well, I can''t really describe it. It made me feel more alive than I ever have been before, yet part of some different reality at the same time... Why? Is that supposed to happen?"


    "Afraid so. For whatever it''s worth, we don''t merge montrum into the purge on purpose."


    "I just don''t get it. It''s like some part of me isn''t listening to myself about any of this. I know I must be going insane. I know that none of you Altiri can be real, but... For some reason, all I can think about in the background is the drive to learn more. I want to learn more about your world Lumina; anything and everything, every single detail, every single sensation. I know that isn''t like me, so I''ll take everything I hear with a grain of salt while you speak."


    I let myself breathe calmly, certain that at the very least, all of Reed''s reactions and behaviors within this montrum were considered normal. It was a little strange to think of in hindsight though. The pull of the montrum is that which can attract through strong curiosity, almost to a point where Reed might feel like he is forced to think of us in better regard. Is it right for the purge to control this much of his mind, even if the effects will soon wear off?


    I couldn''t be sure, because I didn''t learn much myself on the way to his school. Reed only asked me tactical questions for the ride there, like, the color and size of our star, our sector coordinates, how we use coordinate stretching for clairvoyant seeking, among other finer details. Eventually, we got to his school again, as he phased out his surroundings to focus on mine, when the curious prospect of examining me in my own mirror came up again.


    "Since the connection is really strong today, you can see." I made sure to slightly boost the connection well enough to let Reed see through my eyes directly, and was certain it was already working. However, as I waited impatiently in front of my own mirror for Reed to get a good detailed look at my face and upper body, something about his staring made my mind race and my body tremble ever so slightly. Never feeling this before, I didn''t know how to react.


    "Wow... That''s incredible. Her eyes are so beautiful!"


    "Don''t flatter yourself!" I pretended to be annoyed to mask whatever I was feeling. His simply and short compliment made me jump a little, my mind to race even faster. I could tell this was making me nervous, but I was more confused than certain of anything.


    Plenty more happened throughout the class, as I struggled to keep my mind focused on helping Reed and thinking clearly. I didn''t know why, but more than ever, the only thing I could think about was Reed; his face, his mind, and his heart... Why did he call me back? If I were sure it was only the montrum before, I wouldn''t need to doubt any of this, but I can tell the reason must be deeper than curiosity. He is asking me questions, but he is also putting in no effort to talk to anyone else. It''s messing with my head and I have to know why! "Reed?" I uttered bashfully.


    "Yes? What is it Lumina?"


    "What... I..." What I wanted to tell him hung in my throat, frozen with my chaotic thoughts, unable to express how I felt. There was one more conflict brewing in the background too. I''m supposed to be helping Reed, but even if I get all of this right, and he becomes more attached to me, the long summers of Georgia that will eventually follow could also hurt him... I don''t know what to do anymore, because no matter what choice I make, anything I do will somehow hurt him in some way in enough time.


    "This is a first. You actually have a touchy subject too hard to get off your chest, the great and intelligent Lumina?"


    "Just shut up!" I shouted bashfully. Right or wrong, I have to know how he really feels. We''re not close enough to know from this telepathic link, and I must know if I''m really making him uncomfortable or not. "What do you think of me?"


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    "What? Oh, well..." He paused in his reply, probably to batter his entire brain thinking about it. "I don''t know, I mean... Good question."


    "Take your time, I''ll wait." I can''t keep doing this without knowing the reason. Reed? It''s okay to be curious, but there should also be genuine interest in us too if we are to continue. If he hates me, I''ll probably never see him again. If he becomes too attached, I might have a separate problem to handle later on.


    "As far as beliefs go, I still think you are a hallucination, some beast born from a fractured mind damaged by my own isolation... But I''m not kicking you out right now."


    "You called me back despite not knowing. Why? Clearly something has changed."


    My question confused him momentarily, and it was some more thought before he answered. "I don''t know. Maybe I''ve just decided to accept losing my mind while slowly going insane."


    "Why would you ever want to be okay with that?"


    "I don''t want to do anything," he emphasized. "It''s just that, ever since yesterday morning, so much has happened; that''s what it feels like at least. And as crazy as this will sound, if you weren''t here with me yesterday or right now, I wouldn''t be pairing up with Banarus or the others; I would be sitting by myself still. The situation is exactly the same with one tiny exception. With you here, I have someone to keep me company. I couldn''t enjoy hanging out with Banarus, or Malica, or anyone else."


    "So then, you''re enjoying this?" I can''t begin to express how relieved I was to hear that. I thought my entire presence was so burdensome to him yesterday, based on the fear and shock our greeting generated. I was right then; I should focus on helping Reed make friends, even if he leaves me for it in the end.


    "No, but hearing about you and your world is interesting... What''s that word you used again? Montrum! I have a montrum for everything you''ve been explaining to me, one brought up by my own mind. Now that I can''t stop thinking about it, I don''t know. Life just feels more interesting because of it. I''m learning so many crazy things from this experience. Not believing that it is real isn''t an excuse for me to dismiss it, not unless I can be 100% certain, which I can''t right now."


    I still didn''t believe him when he told me that. I can understand any explanation paired with montrum as an excuse, but I just don''t see it as a reason to contact me again... But then maybe it is. Maybe the montrum of a purge is so powerful, people have no choice but to explore where it leads. "So then there is some chance you think I am real?"


    "One percent. I only calculate a one percent probability that you and the Altiri are real and that my world really has been turned on the side."


    "That''s good for me to hear, just so long as you don''t get too attached."


    "Too attached? Now you lost me."


    "I''m sorry." I sniffled slightly, doing my best to push back primitive tears. "It''s just that, I''ve realized since yesterday night that you and I cannot really become the most amazing friends without a price to pay."


    "You literally just told me that you purged me and told me everything just for that specific reason! I know that I''ve been saying that you''re just a broken part of my imagination, but that''s my opinion, not your own. You think you''re an Altiri alien, one of thirty-two million in a galaxy far ¨C far away. You think you taught me how to use telepathy, by purging me and putting me through all of that weirdness. That''s your story, isn''t it? So why then would you suddenly change your mind and say we can no longer be friends anymore? Answer me Lumina!"


    I answered on immediate instinct, unable to handle his sudden anger to my words. "It''s not like that okay! But, maybe I made a mistake after all. I shouldn''t have acted so quickly to send a purge." What am I saying exactly? I wasn''t trying to tell Reed any of this, but the words were slipping out without a second thought.


    "A mistake? I thought you said you only get one shot at this purging business."


    "I do only get one chance. And I used that chance on you."


    "So then you''re stuck with me now. Get over it already. You can''t undo the past, unless you have some time travel machine you are not telling me about."


    He''s right. I can''t undo what I''ve done, and I should stop trying to give up on this so easily... But thinking about the pain he might go through if he does one day love us too much is something I don''t want to even consider right now. "I still wasn''t thinking it through. I scouted this area, one that is known for temperature dark zones. This thing we have right now, even if we tried to get used to it and make it work, it would never last."


    "Temperature problems? What on Earth are you talking about?" Before Reed could hear me explain, the bell for the class rang, until Reed packed up and made his own transition, not that it would have taken long to explain. "We''ll continue this in math class."


    <hr>


    <11/02/149,566 {Avion 148} ¨C 09:10 | Corral Position, Genosis, Altiri Sector Space>


    <Karnak to ACS414 Date Equivalent: 11/02/2010>


    <Telepathic Link: Established | Telepathic Strength: Good ~ {41<sup>o</sup>N}>


    <hr>


    Chapter Theme Shift: Soul Dreamer ~ Unusual Cosmic Process (Depths of Consciousness)</a>


    <hr>


    It didn''t take too long for me to explain the details of heat disruption to telepathy in his math class. He seemed to understand this part of telepathy easily, and strangely, did not seem very concerned with the results or my previous warning. Instead, he continued to concentrate on learning more about my world, and a little more about me.


    Something about the long moment made me feel better about what I''ve done, that there was a chance I was helping Reed after all, instead of making his life worse. I can''t explain why the mere possibility of causing problems for Reed put knots in my stomach, but the conflicting thoughts were only making it harder for me to behave as I should. It took everything in me to remind myself of the core purpose of my mission here, as reminded by my own sisters.


    In any case, I got to learn more in depth about what Reed endured during his purge cycles, that he did get a full taste of everything, even though the information phases was a bit lacking near the end. I was honestly more impressed with the amount of information overflow he was able to handle from me in such short moments. Most people get severely overwhelmed when they learn this much information, especially when paired with the unusual affinity of awe. Instead, it''s as if Reed cannot get enough. Is his brain really that fast? How many simultaneous thoughts does this boy have?


    Either way, we spoke for the entire period of math class, until we finally settled on the agreement that I would help prove to Reed that he does have what it takes to talk to people better than he ever has before. Though this wasn''t my first idea, I decided I would help by feeding him every exact phrase or sentence to say to any particular individual, like how they do it in some of those movies. With telepathy, we have this one advantage.


    Once we ended up in gym class together, it wasn''t long before our little project really started... Truth be told, the little experiment had a strong start, but it didn''t go very well. Reed seemed to surround himself with people he barely knew, but who acted like they knew him even more, and they weren''t all very nice either. I tried getting him to talk to Laura, Abby, and an interesting girl named Zero. Our efforts were unfortunately mixed results, mostly negative.


    It''s not that I or Reed messed anything up; this only happened as a series of back luck moments, that and the fact that some of the kids in this school were wild with a screw loose or two. I didn''t realize that in the time of only two years from my last clairvoyant studying, the cultural behaviors in this area had already changed so much. What was cool two years ago was lame now, and what was yesterday''s news was last year''s news in the minds of others. One awkward moment after another, despite all my best efforts, even though Reed could clearly see me trying my best, in the end, it did little.


    I did want to initially highlight to Reed that Zero was an interesting person, since I recognized her as one of my four persons of interest back when I was focusing on this part of Georgia for hidden gems of people and their behaviors here. It took me a moment to recognize her, since I wasn''t expecting her to develop so well; talk about coincidences. I didn''t tell Reed about it though, since it wasn''t important. The moment did however remind me that part of the reason Reed might be having so much trouble talking to women could have to do with how attractive he probably finds some of them to be. Even if he claims he isn''t seeking a girlfriend after his last breakup, I''m skeptical it''s as easy as he thinks it is.


    Yes, I did skip over the details of how it all went down, but only because we have plenty enough of an overlap between our shared perspective of how this day went. If you want to know the specifics that badly, re-read <u>¡°Chapter 28-C: Wingwoman</a>¡±</u> of the original Overlap. Reed already tells the story well, and I aim not to repeat it word for word.


    In conclusion, we were both equally frustrated by how poorly our attempts were at getting Reed to talk to the girls he wanted to. Even so, he hit me with an unexpected conclusion that I was never prepared for. "Stop blaming yourself for something that isn''t our fault. I told you already, it''s fine. I believe you this time, about wanting to help me anyway."


    "You do?"


    "Lumina? Without you, I still never would have had the guts to talk to Zero, or Abby, or anyone else that I don''t know in the first place." So it seemed, Reed still saw value in what I tried to do for him today, not just by my own efforts, but by realizing that he wouldn''t have pushed himself this far without my interference. It was something I had not thought of before until now. "My point is, no matter what I said before, you actually seem to know what you are talking about, most of the time. Even though your advice wasn''t initially working before, I got the sense that you were really trying your best. Sorry for thinking otherwise."


    I really was trying my best, and I''m overjoyed that he realizes how much I care that he makes friends and becomes happy. Still, I wasn''t sure exactly where that left us in the moment. Reed was already in his room at this point, having been home from school, and so any time tonight, he might once again let me go, possibly forever. When I asked him about this though, he delivered us both a new ultimatum.


    "There''s something about all of this that''s too dynamic for a simple hallucination. More importantly, I could tell for most of the day that you were putting all of your focus into helping me, helping me make friends that is. Before, you were going all out of your way to prove whether or not you existed to me. I know that''s still important to you, but this time, it wasn''t more important than giving me a chance to make at least one friend. I don''t know why you felt the need to help me so much, but that''s the special thing about you Lumina... You''re nice to me."


    "I... I was just doing what I wanted to, in order to help you." Oooh! It feels so good that he said that, knowing I''m doing something for him, knowing I''m being nice to him. Why does that feel so right, to make him happy even at my own expense? Maybe I am losing my touch, but at least I can do one thing right. "That''s because I want to help you, with anything. It doesn''t just have to be friendships Reed. If you ever want any advice on anything, or just someone to talk to, that''s what I''m here for."


    "And to think, considering what a purge actually costs and what it can do to people, you went through all of that trouble just for this? So that you can talk to me or help me out in life? I''ll tell you something Lumina. All of that Altiri stuff might sound amazing, but you sure picked a silly reason to purge somebody, and me of all people..."


    Maybe... Thinking back on it now, it seemed more spontaneous than it did sincere. I still can''t describe what I felt that day, when our eyes locked for the first time even when he couldn''t see me. I felt something from deep within Reed, something incredible, and it''s as if I just knew, even though I couldn''t have possibly known. My reasons for wanting to purge him are a bit weaker in circumstance than what I''ve heard other aggressor groups go through, but after hearing how happy Reed has become in only two days, I can''t say I regret what I''ve done anymore. "Yeah, well... I made my choice."


    "You sure did... But I''ve come to a decision on something. Whether or not I believe that you are part of the real world will no longer have any bearing on whether I contact you again in the future. I''ll have to get to my work soon, but tomorrow morning, I''m going to call you back."


    "You really mean it?!" Oop! I didn''t mean to blurt that out so brazenly, but I couldn''t help it! Reed just agreed to call me back again and again! Did I really do it? Did I finally earn enough trust from the one person I want to be with?


    "Of course. We have this telepathic power now, right? What''s the point if we don''t try to use it? Besides, I''d like your help again, talking to people tomorrow, if it''s okay with you."


    Yes! Yes! Yes! "I would love that! I''ll make sure everybody in that school loves you, or else." My excitement erupting from me, I couldn''t hide how happy I was to hear him want me around and want my help. We were right all along, about the approach I should take. Real friends help each other before they are ever really friends, and I''ll help Reed with anything and everything, no matter what!


    Days, weeks, years, I don''t care! I''ll make sure Reed and I become best friends... And then, afterwards, I''ll do what I can when that summer of hell decides to roll in. I''ll worry about it later though... Okay, I''ve got this now. I can finally make Reed happy in any way I can, whether or not he believes in us.

 Chapter 026: Voluntary Rejection

    <hr>


    <04/15/149,559 {Avion 148} - 15:02 | Corral Position, Genosis, Altiri Sector Space>


    <Karnak to ACS414 Date Equivalent: 04/15/2003>


    If only I had known what heartbreak would await me this afternoon; if only I had any means to avert the worst moment in my life, I would not be here right now telling such a sad story. I''ve been so excited about my new friend for such a long time; two years have I known Amelia now.


    The scryers did their best to warn me. Some of my own sisters were uncertain of my choice to get involved in this purge. I should have listened to everyone, instead of listening to no one. Yet it seems, the desire to reach out and make a friend - sometimes exceeds priority over those we should trust even more. I never expected to be hurt, or for any of this to fail in my face. It''s already too late for me now. Should my name leak out to other Altiri, I would no longer care, for my business of the purge is forever removed.


    I only hope to convey a message of warning to other aggressor groups thinking about purging a human. No matter how amazing the person you see appears, they can still fool all of us. Purging is such a risky action to undertake, and all of us should be warned each moment how definite such a sacred art is. If we choose at all, we put ourselves in eternal risk, losing so much in the process to gain something so small. The future never works out the way we think it will, and so, as I reflect on all that happened this morning, I plead to others like me not to make the same mistakes.


    <hr>


    "Hey Amelia! What''s going on?" Despite the semi-moderate strength of our connection, my telepathic voice reached her so loudly, enveloping my brightest side of her presence, my best friend. No matter how routine our link has become, each moment I hear her voice is such ascension and energy stimulating my heart.


    "Hey Leibra," Amelia replied with a fraction the enthusiasm as I had. I knew not to react too soon to some of her occasional mood swings, since they are so common in high-schoolers.


    No matter what gets underneath her skin, I''ll always be here to help her through, as I have been for the past few years. Nobody knows what special friendship lives between us; I, a member of The Unity, and Amelia, the young woman I''ve purged not too long ago.


    The waiting period for the purge completion process was hell in my heart, but after waiting long enough, I finally got to speak to her, just as the scryers promised I could. There could only be one purpose, building the bonds we have between each other now. Amelia wanted love, and she only received bullies. Amelia wanted wishes, though life only delivered her evil, some in her home life and some in her school life. One day I noticed her, saw the beautiful soul suffering before me, drowning in agony for too long, and so I got my group together and purged her.


    Though I made it sound so simple and easy, no moment of our paths crossing was ever easy for us. I had to question my own sanity a dozen times, as did my sisters for making such a risky decision. However, my own selfless care for the people I met around me played louder tunes than fear; hope given a kind of power it should not deserve to have. My actions changed Amelia''s life forever, an action neither of us could ever undo, so I focused only on bettering each other.


    From that moment on, I spent years helping her, and she spent years getting to know us better. I helped her with every little social interaction I could think of, building her a bridge to the top where Amelia would stay happy. Little by little, Amelia gained more human friends around her, more trust, more popularity, everything we both wanted for her, and she kept what we had a secret, swearing to never reveal me to the others.


    "So did you manage to get out of your last class like always?" Sometimes this human would skip some of her classes, though other times she would simply glaze ahead of her work before leaving in grace. She was standing outside alone with me now, far towards the front sign away from the entrance of the school, back to the fence as usual.


    "I''m just glad it''s cold enough outside for this today... Leibra? We have to talk."


    "... Sure." I would have it no other way, having Amelia trust me so much that she could speak about something so heavy. I could tell already that whatever was eating her was heavier in weight than what I was used to seeing. She''s done so well on her own for the past year; Amelia is her own self-confident person, who didn''t need my advice anymore to dominate every aspect of her life. That''s more proof that she''s as capable as I''ve hoped. So, I''ll help her with anything at all.


    Amelia paused before she proceeded, trying to keep herself calm with a deep breath and her face aimed up at the bright sky. "I can''t thank you enough for how much you helped me over the years. Without you, I wouldn''t be half the person I am today."


    "You don''t have to be so modest about it. I did all of this to help you, because I wanted to." Some seconds passed before I felt any answer within Amelia, and it finally was starting to put me on edge.


    "I just want you to know that I appreciate everything you''ve done for me... In only a few days from now, I''m going to graduate from high school and start a life of my own. I''ve got so many new friends to talk to as well whenever I want."


    What a relief; that''s all she''s fazed about. In fairness, human life is difficult enough to get bent out of shape over things, as I have seen my fair share of injustice on ACS414. "But I have faith in you. I know you''ll be able to live a wonderful life if you just keep giving it your all."


    "A wonderful life," Amelia repeated, "and a normal life too."


    "Eh?" What is this feeling within her? I''ve never sensed it before, nor do I understand the paradoxical solace in her voice.


    "For most of high school, I needed you Leibra... But now, now that everything is as it should be, there isn''t really a need for you and me to hang out anymore."


    "..." Whatever thoughts and words I wanted to have dissolved, my wincing and shock too strong to remember what was just said. I must not have heard her right. There''s no way she would say something like that. "I don''t... I¡ª"


    "It isn''t your fault Leibra. I just... I just want to live the life I was meant to, you know? I want to have normal experiences with normal guys, normal thoughts as well."


    "But¡ª but you can have all of that! You don''t have to stop being with me to get there!" What are either of us saying? Is Amelia confused? Did I hit my head to drift into some kind of false consciousness?


    "We both know none of that is true. I''m tired of sneaking around in the cold just to say something with telepathy, and I still have a hard time forgetting about all those intrusive thoughts you threw into me. It took me so long just to get rid of that never-ending montrum about the Altiri."


    "I¡ª I¡ª I don''t understand! What did I do wrong? Whatever you''re mad about I can fix it, promise!" Just listening to myself felt pathetic, but the things coming from Amelia''s mouth were totally uncalled for. Why would she suddenly want nothing to do with me anymore? This isn''t the best friend I''ve known all these years, is it?


    "You didn''t do anything wrong Leibra. It''s just that, I''ve grown up now. All of this insanity about other worlds and psionic ascension, it isn''t something I wanted to stay hinged on forever."


    "So that''s it? You don''t need me anymore? I thought we were friends Amelia! Does this have to do with what we talked about before? We already proved to you that we really do exist. I''m not some imaginary friend you''ve made up; I''m made out of flesh and bone just like you!"


    "I said this isn''t about you alright!" With both of us annoyed and upset beyond rational thought, Amelia made her motives perfectly clear, while I could only stand and wallow. "I know already that you aren''t imaginary. But to everybody else, you and the Altiri might as well be. It''s a secret I''m supposed to keep just to prove my sanity to others, and I don''t want to keep those secrets anymore."


    "So tell them!"


    "I won''t," she returned sternly. "We both know how that will turn out. It''s better if I just keep things the way they are supposed to be."


    "What you''re proposing makes no sense. You can easily hide my presence, and call me back whenever you want every so often."


    "That isn''t entirely accurate either." Her words puzzled me enough that I had to hear her out. "I mean yeah, I could let you go and call you back every so often, but it''s still too often for my life to have the balance I want. No normal girl talks to aliens from the depths of space... Nine months or so; that is the length of time I''d have to avoid contacting you, in order for this telepathic power in me to wither away forever, isn''t it?"


    "What are you thinking Amelia? After everything we went through, after all that time we spent together!" The entire world might as well have been flipped upside down, and all I could see before was washed into the wavy mess of tears.


    "Don''t make this harder than it needs to be. I had some fun while it lasted too, but I never asked you to become so strongly attached to me like this. I never asked you once to purge me."


    "You just told me how grateful you were that I helped you."


    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    "I am Leibra! You helped me a great amount, and I''ll always be thankful for that... But I never asked you to stay with me for all of my entire life."


    "You understand I can''t just purge another, right? The one and only purge I ever get in an entire life time only belongs to you."


    "I thought you purged me to help me. Well, you accomplished that task."


    "I purged you because I wanted to have another friend as well, someone I thought I could trust with something so important to both of us!"


    Amelia nodded, further breaking what was left of my heart. "I just wanted you to help me... Hanging out with you was fun and interesting, but it was never something I could let go on forever. I have human friends now, people I can physically be with, and a life so close ahead of me. I can''t keep all of that if I''m also spending so much of my mind in Genosis."


    "I''ve had my mind in your world as well as my own for much longer, and what you claim to be impossible is actually really easy... I don''t understand you."


    "Do you remember what you told me on the very first day we met?"


    I didn''t reply, only because I was too sick to think anymore. Everything just felt so unreal now, like a bad dream I needed to wake up from.


    "You told me, that no matter what I think, whether I decide to call you again and hang out with you was a choice entirely up to me, and a choice I would hang onto for as long as I live."


    "So you were just using me until you got what you wanted."


    "I''m sorry you see it that way Leibra. I can''t live in two worlds like you think I can, and I''m never going to make any progress if I don''t go off on my own... If that nine month rule did not exist, I would call you every year regardless to check in... But telepathy just isn''t a power I want anymore."


    Is she the most irrational human I''ve ever known? Maybe I''m the most irrational Altiri any will ever see. Sharp and broken as her words were, Amelia''s choice is what killed me inside. All aggressor groups know what kind of choice this is; this is what humans do to us when they reject our intervention with their lives.


    In all technicality, any purged human has a right to tell their own story, and they also have a right to turn us down when they realize who we are... But Amelia never did that, not in the beginning. Why would she wait to tell me this? Why do this after all the adventures we had together? No matter what she says, I can''t make any sense of it at all, and so, I couldn''t speak, couldn''t think, and couldn''t react.


    "I''m sorry Leibra. That''s about the whole of it... We might have become friends, but we can''t remain that way. You belong with your people in your world, and I belong here with my people."


    "I... I don''t know what to say." Though I didn''t lose too many tears so quickly, my voice was already depleted of all energy, of any purpose and sustenance.


    "I''m glad you showed up in my life when you did... But this is goodbye now."


    Her message took longer than it should have to register with me, as I jumped understanding what she was about to do. "Amelia don''t! Amelia!" Reaching out as if I could somehow stop her, the sudden whooshing sensation of the disconnect filled me in silence, the moment after paralyzing all of time itself.


    Even though my sisters could sense my total distress, I erased their presence from my consciousness, leaving myself alone to rot with the impossibility before me. What shouldn''t be possible just became possible; the definition of a miracle flipped on its other side, tragedy to drain the life force from my soul. By the time minutes went by, I finally realized that Amelia was leaving me forever, intending to reject all communication until her psionic core atrophies, removing the telepathy we gave her.


    I usually have background thoughts and feelings, but this removed everything from within, ceasing the flow of everything everywhere, until I couldn''t remember where I was or what anything meant anymore. The worst thoughts and feelings in all my life came to hammer away at what was left after long enough, fragmenting me after I had so long loved and trusted someone enough to do anything for them. There wasn''t anything in any world capable of curing this.


    <hr>


    <08/27/149,560 {Avion 148} - 19:21 | Research Station NC-3, Genosis, Altiri Sector Space>


    <Karnak to ACS414 Date Equivalent: 08/27/2004>


    <hr>


    Chapter Theme Shift: Soul Dreamer ~ Unusual Cosmic Process (Depths of Consciousness)</a>


    <hr>


    "That''s enough Lovithica! I don''t want to see any more of that!" I begged the scryer to cease her psionic transmission into me, too upset and full of tears to keep my usual composure. Lovithica did stop using memory transfer when I showed her I was beyond my own limits. It was the story Sherika, Derria, Ashiela, and I came here to investigate, but like last time, we got way more than we bargained for.


    All of what happened just now, occurred a little more than a year ago in 2003, and it was as if I were Leibra for the entire duration of the immersive experience. Unlike before, in which we used a specially made report to learn what happened to Mylla, Altiri Scryer Lovithica was given a full memory transfer by the Royal Scryers with special permission.


    Being trapped inside of someone else''s memory like that was such a crazy experience, but I felt pain stronger than anything I''ve ever felt in all my life. I can''t believe an Altiri aggressor group leader would trust a human to such an incredible degree, and I also can''t believe that same human would stab her in the back this way. Yet everything I felt and saw through Leibra was entirely accurate, a memory transferred directly from the same woman herself. The only fake entity about this memory are both their names, altered as redactions for our purpose.


    I wasn''t the only one balling; my other sisters were in tears too, sympathetic to that psychological torture we were just put through. Ashiela was vocalizing her turmoil the most. "I don''t understand why Amelia would do something like that!"


    "Neither do the rest of us," Lovithica replied calmly. She felt the same as us, though her intensity of the peril was drained by how many times she has already done this for other aggressor groups as well. "Amelia, or as some will call her, experiment number 16, baffled even the Royal Scryers when Leibra broke the bad news to them at the temple. The only reason we are allowed to be cognizant to any of this private knowledge, is because Leibra no longer cares about the secrecy of it. She''s still broken, still upset beyond measure. She''s still in recovery while one of her sisters takes over command of the aggressor group."


    I fought so hard to speak through the lingering sadness echoing throughout my heart. We Altiri don''t dream, but memory sharing is one close form of dreaming, though it feels too real for comfort. "Why would the Royal Scryers break so much of their own protocol for this one instance?"


    "Because," Lovithica answered tilting her head slightly, "they feel that a particular lesson about this case must be learned as soon as possible."


    "And what kind of lesson is that?!" Ashiela stomped defiantly. "Don''t trust those savage humans?!" Clearly she felt more betrayed than I did, my hope still a survivor of this battle.


    Lovithica held her eye brow, letting the air sink in a little longer. "Even if an aggressor group currently has zero interest in purging another human, all who have authorization and ability to purge should understand every consequence and risk of such a method. I know Amelia''s actions in particular don''t make a lot of sense to us, but it does highlight a known possibility we''ve known about for a long time, played out in the worst way for the first time; voluntary rejection."


    It was a phrase that meant more than the weight she put into it. The purge has many phases that it must pass, or else fail and leave the human target unable to connect to the Altiri host. However, just because a purge cycle completes does not mean that everything was a success in the end, as demonstrated with Experiment #13 and Aldriah. The first difficulty that comes after a purge completes is convincing the target that everything they experience is real along with our presence. However, this is both connected yet isolated from the additional choice to embrace what is known. A human who is purged is connected to the Altiri node automatically, but must also manually connect again after the first connection fails; which implies a choice they must make alone. Humans may in theory, understand and even believe that we exist, yet still choose to reject giving the node another connection after the first. In our terms, this choice - when made is known as voluntary rejection, and while it instigates that the purge itself was successful, the intention of the purge is not.


    "This Amelia girl doesn''t make much sense to me. I can understand many reasons for rejecting The Unity, but not this." Before Lovithica could say any more to my own remark, I realized another aspect for the reason why we are even allowed to see this in the first place. The moment of time between that memory and right now has more than nine months in between. That means the choice Amelia made was a most permanent and certain decision... We''re all told that every human who is purged has the assumed right to reject us, but even if they do, is their invocation of the right really something they should have? Those who put so much into a purge deserve better than this at least.


    "Amelia was trusted with something as sacred and as important with a purge, yet she broke Leibra''s heart in ways none of us could have imagined possible. While her woes are mostly psychological, I want to take every chance I have to remind as many Altiri as I can that this is a possible outcome for any who try to purge a human. Anyone even thinking about a purge needs to remember that their target has the freewill to deny any intrusion into their life, not by rejecting the purge, but by rejecting the very person who sent it to them."


    "This is a strange reason to make something public that normally wouldn''t be." Derria was glaring daggers at Lovithica, as if she had discovered something we never found as obvious. "We knew already this was a risk, and even though this is mostly the first time such has played out, I doubt the scryers up top would willingly reveal this truth to us when we already suspect it, for this cost at least... Something else must be going on as well."


    Derria''s deductive skills were interesting to me, only because she isn''t always like this, and even then, she doesn''t say things like this aloud. She makes an excellent point though. Wonder what Lovithica will say as a loyal scryer herself.


    "Your guess is as intuitive as mine. At first, I thought it was merely a swift reaction to something the scryers have never seen before; so much pain was inflicted on one of us from the actions of a human so far away, they can never physically touch us."


    "At first?" Sherika cherry-picked.


    "Surely you''ve noticed already. It isn''t possible to tell with just a glance, but we''re beginning to notice a sudden uptick in the range of likelihood that aggressor groups are willing to purge. It''s as if the fears we once had are slowly melting away. The purges between number twelve and sixteen happened in much shorter spans between than what we''ve seen in previous purges; this suggests the practice is becoming more popular, even if by little increments at a time. While it''s true that all aggressor groups need to obtain permission and preliminary study first before sending a purge, the queen has no reason to put a stop to this behavior overall. And yet, I think I can feel the control that the royals once had are slipping away with each additional purge. As much as I respect them for all they do, what I''ve shown you all today proves that they will never understand what anyone goes through when sending a purge, or waiting for it to complete, or the kind of reasons and attachments some of us will have to others on Earth when we want to."


    "Are you trying to say that the scryers don''t care about this incident, or that they merely wish they could prevent it more by controlling how we purge?"


    Lovithica answered my odd question with an eye-opening revelation I think most would be too afraid to utter in secret. "You really think this purge experiment would be open to us if they had any real control of the situation? They let the genie out of the bottle, and now, because of the gradual rising popularity of the purge, it''s already reached a point where denying an Altiri the right to purge would be viewed as a grave betrayal of trust, and a disservice to The Unity. What if they try to stop what is already in motion at the wrong time? Such egregious action could lead to defiance never seen before. I don''t think the queen has any interest in stopping the purge, but her Royal Scryers have sounded different ever since a year ago, and we now have an idea as to why."


    What was it I warned those fools of so many years ago? Once we contact humanity, no matter what, there is no going back from that. Even though I have changed how I''ve seen some humans on Earth, I still remember all that I tried to warn those scryers of, about what risks we would take if we did institute a first contact protocol. Many things can be fixed or undone, but once someone learns of something, they can never unlearn it. "We''ve been observing and merging our understanding with these humans for centuries now. What use would trying to nullify the experience be at this point?"


    "Exactly Lumina. You would know, right? I mean, I heard your group was engaging in another one of those special projects; a sociological study as usual." I never told Lovithica any of that, and my sisters didn''t either. A mutual friend of hers must have snooped. "Among all the trash people walking around down there, I bet you occasionally find a few hidden gems, people that appear worthy of our trust and admiration."


    "What''s your point exactly?" I know Lovithica has one. She wouldn''t bring this up otherwise. I already know of some hidden gems as she says, people who have already amazed me and will continue to do so.


    "I just want everyone to be careful with their own emotions. To Leibra''s perspective, Amelia was one of those supposed hidden gems. If you ask me, this all likely started from a mistaken assumption about another person, rarely made; yet it happened once, and it may happen again. The last thing I ever want to see repeat is another one of us in the state Leibra is in now." She makes it sound as if we could go visit and comfort Leibra, but I know already the scryers would never allow it, plus they would tear Lovithica apart for even suggesting her physical whereabouts...


    Even so, the warning stuck with me for a moment. It wasn''t a warning why someone shouldn''t purge, instead a warning for one of many negative possible outcomes that could occur as a result of a purge. All I seem to hear about with these purges is how risky and how costly they are to Altiri who invoke them, and yet I know from rumor not every single group feels this way... So what is the virtue then? Did Leibra and her group merely get unlucky? Is it possible that there isn''t someone who can share love successfully in this desolate universe we share together?


    A different part of me wonders what must have been going through Amelia''s mind, as if there was something hidden that she just couldn''t say to us Altiri, some deeper meaning or reason for why she rejected the choice she was given. Maybe I''m wrong; maybe I simply want to believe that no human could ever hurt someone this much, so I choose to believe in some alternate explanation instead. Leibra must have wracked her brain with the construct of it a thousand times or more. I really hope she recovers from this one day.


    This case does highlight something for me though. The kind of life that we Cy-Stars live now, watching the world of humans as we have been for thousands of years, all of that is forced to come to a total and complete end if ¨C for any reason, the intentions of a purge fail, not just for the Altiri leader sending the signal, but also their entire group of sisters sharing the same fate and burden. Socially speaking, it''s like being kicked out of ACS414 entirely, in every single aspect, its existence erased from everything. If this is what people risk when they send a purge, I have to ask why others do it in the first place. Maybe one day, I''ll understand what it''s like.

 Chapter 027: Before The Unity (Part 1 ~ Free Will)

    <hr>


    <02/24/40,578 {Avion 41} - 08:15 | Empyrean Temple, Karnak, Genosis, Altiri Sector Space>


    <Karnak to ACS414 Date Equivalent: 02/24/-106,978>


    In the cold desolate world of our home, the opening eye casts divine light from above, shading detail to reflect every particle of ice and snow. The planet is cold, the air still gaseous, calm as breath or wild as our constant refreshing blizzards howling day and night.


    I am nearly nothing, a speckle, one out of several millions of Altiri people, though I was also molded and put together by the hands of our creator. I am something, for I was born in the eye of God, certain, though indirect as it may be. All who are born here know of our sacred hymns, our ethereal cries, and our invincible honor. I need not search for God, for he is already here with us, all the time, in years never ending.


    I come to this place daily, as millions of others visit the Empyrean Temple of our divine creator, to pay tribute, to show appreciation, and to honor ourselves as all who are one and one who is all. On the surface of Karnak, centuries after several scientific revolutions and our growing space exploration program, I, Trinity, hereby swear unbreakable loyalty and respect to our ruler; Legasso.


    My words are not needed, only my presence. So here I stand in silence, directly in the grand halls of our leader, watching others come and go, walking in and out, bowing and praising in between, while Legasso''s team of disciples in science deliver more reports about the many projects. In all I could know, it was a peaceful day; silence eluded us, yet peace resonated and echoed in all of our minds, with our brains closely connected in the psi-field.


    I was just as relaxed as ever, taking another sip of my purified water from the frozen ice container, reminiscing on how old, yet innovative this technology is. We Altiri used to melt the surface of our ground with our hands, initiating some kind of hyper-sonic resonance that sublimated the material on contact, so that we may ingest and drink. Ever since 8,400 (Avion 8), the massive purification plants that our scryers developed - automated a melting process for us, saving us so much time and energy, though our power to invoke what our ancients used to was removed. We can keep and drink melted purified water from having our handouts, and thus live on forever, less anything befalls us.


    As uneventful and beautiful as I believed today to be, the fate of our unison brought us something unexpected, the adult Altiri slowly and gracefully walking through our cathedral halls. Her very entrance took my attention, for the girl was most beautiful in her display and in her gentle elegance. Unlike all visitors however, she wasn''t wearing a smile parting her lips, her face that of uncertainty or curiosity. Her eyes narrowed forward between the halls of God, who sat further down in the largest chair, with Legasso delegating without moving.


    I too believed this beautiful stranger came here as well to pay tribute for all the accomplishments he sent us through, but after long enough, I realized her business here was of another matter. The woman approached the central chamber throne carefully, and this much was enough to turn all heads. All Altiri know the protocols for speaking to God. Those who have usual business approach the throne chair and Legasso with respect from either the left or the right side-halls, while those only paying respect keep distance and do so without disruption. This stranger did neither, and approached Legasso''s throne chair from down the middle, indicating to us that she had some urgent business to discuss, something bigger than an ordinary issue.


    I didn''t need to get any closer to the throne deck to watch and listen to all that would unfold, because our ears could hear from much further away and amplify, while our eyes could see from much further away and enhance. While it wasn''t polite to pry, the unusual timing of this unexpected visit had me too curious to keep my senses out of their direction, and so I watched and listened, as an ordinary observer comparing two people; the stranger who entered the temple, and Legasso, who now delivered his full material attention to the lady.


    "Welcome to Empyrean Temple, young disciple." Legasso greeted the lady respectfully, though because of his many differences, his own voice was much lower and deeper in pitch than the rest of us. Much about Legasso was entirely different in physiology compared to other Altiri, proof to many that he is beyond our ascensionary righteousness. "Please bestow upon my ears, your name and your troubles." Legasso made easy eye contact with the woman, and for a while, the exchange seemed as humble as it was lengthy.


    At first, the stranger didn''t verbally reply at all; she merely stood in place, bobbing her eyes of and around Legasso, as if to observe something she was desperately looking for. "My name is Quvailah. I am not sure where I could begin, though the simplest matter would be to resolve the issue in our town, Moors."


    "Moors? That is a name most unfamiliar to me. I shall presume it is only a small town. Remind me what the situation of Moors is."


    "You should know," Quvailah swiftly returned. "You sent your disciples into our town, and ordered almost everyone to abandon the area. My friends and I worked hard to set things up so that we could live closer to the deadzone. Why are we forbidden from living near that area so long as we avoid the storms?"


    "Ah, I now recall our dealing with the Moors situation. It was a while ago." Legasso inhaled softly, preparing his answer to Quvailah, as I too was curious what this was about. "The location where you have set up town in Moors was deemed too far in distance from Empyrean Temple. It would be too difficult to maintain any needed supplies to or from such a place, and we need assurance that all may deliver their appreciation over time. I trust everyone has long since evacuated and moved closer to safety?"


    "If I may speak so boldly Legasso, our presence in that zone was fine the way we were. I know that settlements on the far side of Karnak have become nearly extinct if not entirely by now, but the place we Altiri choose to live is entirely up to every sole individual. Our safety is only of our own concern."


    Eyes raised in all throughout the cathedral, silence becoming that of a total vacuum of noise amidst the outdoor blitz of frost. What Quvailah said just now, as well as the placement of her tone, it bordered right on blasphemy! I''m not the only one in the room who noticed either.


    "I trust that you have long since overcome any residual pang of loss to that zone; I sense no real anger within you. The people choose to live closer to our highest order and of our highest population, because it is right, because it is safe, and because it is our promised future. If any wish to live on the far side of Karnak, excluded from any chance they have to our mass purification zones and from the rest of society, they may do so, but they shall not receive any assistance from this order." Legasso knew where to put his foot down, telling Quvailah how things should be in no uncertain terms. "Is that all? You have forgotten to bow and respect¡ª"


    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    "I''m not finished." Only now, Quvailah let some of her inner defiance show, though she maintained as much of her wits and respect as she could, while the rest of us stared in silent shock. "I must beseech another matter simultaneously to this one. Ergi and Henna. I doubt you know who they are, but they tried very recently to apply for official scryer registration, to conduct some private study, and I learned that your order turned them down, for the reason I already know of. Tell me Legasso. Since when did Altiri require both permission and your exclusive trust in order to operate like many previous scryers before us, scryers who were here before and during your time?"


    Legasso froze too, for what was only a second or two, puzzled by the most unusual display any of us have ever seen. Legasso is God to all of us, so none oppose his order, his rule, or his respect. That''s how it''s always been.


    "That is incorrect, Trinity."


    What?! I glanced around nervously, and soon after, others did as well, searching for the unfamiliar telepathic voice in our minds. It was obvious soon after that the voice was coming from the same woman before us today.


    "Search your memory, all of you. This order is not how things always were, even if they have been for a very long time." Quvailah spoke to many of us, though not all of us, throughout the temple, excluding Legasso and a few others while the two of them spoke verbally.


    "The mouth on you lacks a certain discipline. There are dozens of reasons why we cannot allow just any Altiri to research something at random, just because they feel like it. Right now, our focus and concentration is to the depths of outer space, so that we may expand our domain, to capture and seize control over more worlds like this one. The road to Zinod will be built sooner or later. I won''t waste too much of our time chasing phantom ideas of psionics."


    "Nobody said you had to use your time to look into it."


    While Legasso and Quvailah were arguing, a separate cascade of voices and emotions filled our sisters, such intense disruption and confusion, all sourced from the disrespectful stranger. "Legasso performed for us well, but he is not in charge of our actions or our thoughts. Deny his power should he take it away from you." Meanwhile, it was clear enough that Legasso could not hear Quvaila''s telepathic rant, while I desperately wanted to understand how my thoughts could so easily be read, when she and I were not directly linked.


    He delivered his answer to the stranger once more. "I rejected their claims because it wasn''t in line with our top priority. That''s all there is to understand. You want to know why we can invoke telepathy so selectively? It''s because we have evolved over the years, thanks to my help."


    "I knew what the real problem was before I walked through these halls." Quvailah pointed to the resound leader in her next accusation. "The real problem is you, attempting to embrace too much under your control, especially when the sake of it is only a means to maintain such control."


    "I''m afraid the entire world disagrees with you there. There are only two ways to live in this world. You either embrace and acknowledge me as your rightful ruler, or you shall live in exile, far from our reach, free from our protection and grace, though vulnerable to the elements which claim many lives every dozen or so cycles. As leader, I control all that I need to; that is how society functions."


    "Then I renounce my loyalties to this broken system." Shocked gasps and murmurs followed Quvailah''s admission, including from myself. I can''t believe she would say something like that, right in front of him too! "I will go as I please, live how I want, and do as I must, even without your supposed protection."


    "You shall hereby be exiled then. Your very own name will be forever tarnished, and you will not receive any protection from myself or our society." Legasso was becoming just as unhinged, angry to a point none have ever seen before.


    "The only difference I see between you and the rest of us, that so many fail to acknowledge, is that you are a valid leader to our kind, but you are not one who created our entire existence. We were here long before you, and if you really were God, you would not pretend that our real history was a lie."


    Legasso finally stood from his chair, shouting at the woman. "How dare you, blasphemous traitor! I have already banished you from our collective family. Must you add insult before you go?"


    "I only have one more thing to say; not an insult, rather a warning. Legasso, I know you probably can''t see it within yourself right now, but your inner-behaviors are most distressing to us all. You cling to power and control beyond the reach any leader should have. You shut down any attempt of free-will among other members of society when they wish to divert in a new direction. Worst of all, your arrogance, in thinking that your physical differences make you superior to the rest of us are a taint of evil that could grow to inhospitable levels. You make little effort to suppress these traits within you, though they seem invisible now, as the amount of pure loyalty to you, while welcome, is still unbalanced and unhealthy for everyone involved. I only hope you one day wake up and control such wild inhibitions dwelling within you"


    "Such insolence!" Legasso bellowed, his muscles tightening with newfound anger. "After all I have done for this barren world, you would dare speak in such malice against your ruler?!"


    "You are no longer my ruler," Quvailah reminded. "Besides, while you played an important role in driving us to develop better technology, the accomplishment alone does not belong to you; it belongs to all of us as a whole race."


    For a moment, Legasso seemed to ease up a bit, calm in his dismissal of the maiden while seating himself again. "Someone as tainted as you clearly has no idea what she is talking about. You could not possibly know what traits, thoughts, and emotions run through my blood anyway, for you and I never linked before."


    "I do not need to link to another to learn this much about them." It was something some of us were learning firsthand, though the news was still shocking to all of us. No Altiri has that kind of mental power, telepathy without a direct link... Though maybe it is something else. I don''t really know what is going on here. All I know is that this is scary on a new level, and Quvailah needs to leave. "You see Legasso, that research you rejected would have explained a bit more about how our psionic powers could be expanded. I for example have the ability to sense all the disturbances inside you. It''s as if you are restless, a soul unable to relax, cursed with an infinite hole in all possible satisfaction, and to me, that''s dangerous, because it means you might do anything to keep the control you already have. This of course also puts a hole in the whole God theory you''ve used to indoctrinate the others."


    "Guards!" Legasso called with swift action, waving his arm to get them to his side. "Escort this lost one from Empyrean Temple. Mark down her name and face. She may never return to this temple at any time, less punishment of execution be enacted." It was a very rare thing to enact, let alone state. Execution means to terminate the life of the punished intentionally and willfully, though it''s never been done before, I don''t think.


    The guards did as they needed to, while most of us and myself just stood by in shock, observing without any certainty on what to do or what to think. To me, it seemed like all she did was enter this temple only to mock our leader and then escape from her treachery. It didn''t make a lot of sense really. I can''t begin to imagine what was going through Quvailah''s head, but as she was being dragged out by two other Altiri, she kept going on and on about the future.


    "You may banish me, but I don''t need a leader to live Legasso. I will go to the far side of Karnak, and I''ll take a few people I know with me, people who also want the same freedom and future that we all want. You will see one day, king, that you cannot control everything and everyone to such lengths."


    Legasso simply growled at her remark, waiting for the woman to be far out of earshot from us all. Maybe she thought it would have all been profound, but whatever Quvailah wanted from all of us, she wasn''t going to get a single thought from such encouragement. Quvailah spoke so strongly, as if a mass defiance would follow in her solo rebellion, but instead, the opposite happened. To my own comfort, in what I would hear later that day, Quvailah was publicly shamed everywhere she went, and later banished from the colony to live on her own as she so desired. It sat well with everybody involved, but that day, no matter how affirmed we were in ridding our world of this one pest, something changed within Legasso.


    It was enough to notice, but not enough to identify, nor was it a swift change. For many years to come, we would live in a world constantly growing and evolving, while the roots in the leader we''ve so long trusted began to crumble, taking all of the Altiri with it. Quvailah was gone, and Legasso remained, though with each day that passed since their encounters, neither the two were ever the same again, their understanding beyond our comprehension.

 Chapter 028: We Who Never Sleep

    <hr>


    <11/07/149,566 {Avion 148} - 23:25 | Corral Position, Genosis, Altiri Sector Space>


    <Karnak to ACS414 Date Equivalent: 11/07/2010>


    <Telepathic Link: Established | Telepathic Strength: Moderate ~ {45<sup>o</sup>N}>


    "And so, we shall meet again? Same time tomorrow morning?" It was impossible to hide all of my excitement, my anticipation in hearing from Reed again.


    "Yeah. Don''t worry, I''ll call you then, before I get to school."


    "Thank you." My gratitude towards Reed was more than certain, and I felt evermore calm compared to the days prior.


    "I''ll admit," he added, "this is all still very strange, but, for some reason, I feel like I want to trust you more, not as some random Altiri, but as a friend."


    His heartwarming promise was the very reason I was in such high spirits now. My plan to try convincing Reed that our existence is real ¨C has failed. I''ve been so worried lately at the thought he may voluntarily reject our presence into his mind, to shut us out forever, leaving us with never-ending silence. Yet despite his skepticism, Reed has chosen to keep me around officially. It isn''t easy to claim why, but I think he wants someone to talk to, someone who is willing to be there for him and help him, a role I have graciously taken on without asking for anything in return. And so, at least for now, this purge is not a failure; our covenant is still absolute.


    Even so, just saying good night to him, knowing I would lie in wake for so many hours without his voice brought a new pain inside my heart, and a new fear that I would somehow never hear from him again. Luckily, my sisters were more rational than I in the moment. "As long as you keep calling me Reed, I promise I will be here for you, as a friend or ally. It''s honestly what I wanted from this purge."


    "So you keep saying..." Reed pondered those words, adamantly suspect of the true cause behind our purge on him. I wasn''t sure why he might doubt our cause, though he didn''t openly challenge it again either. Ending our Sunday night together, Reed and I told each other good night, before I manually put an end to this specific connection, letting the energizing buzzing of our minds quiet down again. At that point, it was only me and my sisters.


    "So?" Junko pondered. "How are things going between you two?"


    I smiled in the smaller victory I had in this, and granted my curious sisters the update they''ve been looking for. "I think Reed is beginning to trust me now, despite his lack in belief of aliens."


    "I wouldn''t say that is a good or bad outcome," Fionne appraised, "merely a means of extension. Even so, this is better news than the alternate, because now our queen has no choice but to extend our time in earning her approval of Reed."


    "I know how you all feel, but you must understand how much I care about the core of our situation too. I want to help him, to be a better person, to be a happier person. Only then will I consider any of our efforts to be a success."


    "I suppose things have not tipped over just yet, but do not be fooled by any hidden deception within your new friend." I didn''t understand why Junko felt compelled to warn of something I knew I didn''t need to be worried about. Still, it hasn''t been easy handling my own worries given what I''ve learned in other failed purge experiments. It hasn''t even been one week, so anything can still change.


    "So when do you pair with him again next?"


    Without certainty as to why Sherika cared about a smaller detail, I gave up our rendezvous time anyway. "Reed normally contacts me at the bus stop before school, so I guess a little after seven hours from now."


    "It must suck having to wait so long just to reconnect with him like that, instead of keeping the connection alive all the time."


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    Talor''s reminder highlighted something we Altiri already know, one core difference between ourselves and the Humans. Most living creatures require resting periods to stifle a negative coefficient of energy loss and fatigue, while we who never sleep know not what the sensation is like. I''m always alert and awake, 24 hours of every single day no matter what. Every minute is longer to me, every hour is more time I think of the world around us, pondering its infinite mystery. "It isn''t that much fun, but I can be patient."


    Very few humans have ever dared to try keeping themselves awake for much longer than 24 hours, due to the experience being uncomfortable and dangerous. However, I find that those who do mediate the experience also become more aware about the world around them, and how time affects us all. People often count their days, because each sleep cycle separates those moments. Though, any insightful person really knows, we remember moments in our lives better than days; we value experiences and changes more than quantity and stagnation.


    So I know that any human, even Reed would be curious to know what it feels like to always be awake every waking moment in the day. We have more time than humans, but are also easily bored because of that time. Reed is just a little bit different in how he values his personal time, but it''s usually the same. People take what they have for granted, even us. I always have so much more time in each cycle to think, and yet, it doesn''t always lead me to happiness. What I''m saying is, I too am one who can think too much for her own good. Seeing the world in this new way is amazing, but it can just as easily be my own curse, if I worry too much, if I think too hard about what-if scenarios that are best ignored.


    So, even though Reed claims to hate sleep with a burning passion, I have to wonder if sleep is really a blessing in disguise, or a curse. The answer still eludes me, though this is hardly the only question on my mind.


    "Talk to me Lumina. Are you doing alright?"


    Junko can see right through me if she''s still asking. Might as well bring it up again. "Yeah... I just hope Reed isn''t getting too freaked out about knowing that I watched over him for so long. He didn''t exactly sound thrilled to know how long I shadowed him for - prior to the purge."


    "Yeah, but that''s perfectly understandable."


    "Is it?"


    "I''m amazed you don''t yet know this about human sociology. The people on that planet are different Lumina. They happen to have negative cohesion to people who secretly stalk them, and also any friendly gestures from someone with such an age difference as you. There''s no way you don''t already know that."


    I knew it alright, but I didn''t expect Reed of all people to be bothered by such details... How repulsed is he by me, simply for being thousands of years older than him? It sickens me to even have to guess. "But he knows I wasn''t watching him like a creep, right?"


    "The reason doesn''t matter," Junko laid out. "As far as he knows, you spied on him with clairvoyance for quite a long time, an invasion of privacy that humans care greatly about. In addition to this, by comparison, you are the adult in this connection, while Reed is just a teenager, fourteen years old to be exact. He may be smart, he may be insightful, but he is no genius. I doubt he would ever understand the perplexities of our world, of our culture, or even of your very own intentions."


    "But I did everything I could to explain it to him."


    "How many fourteen year olds do we know are capable of understanding all of this with so much ease? He may very well grow to believe in us soon, only to question our existence all over again years later. Do not forget that such has happened before."


    "I don''t need the reminder." Trying not to pout, I didn''t want to face her, ignoring the very thought of possibility that Reed would ever do that to me, even knowing it was a strong possibility. Silent moments passed before I was asked something again, this time by Luna.


    "I''ve noticed something different about you Lumina. It isn''t definite right now, but, you seem to be a little more attached to Reed than I thought you were. This confusion from within resonates to me, and it has me wondering if friendship is the only intention you have with this subject."


    "You''ve already brought this up before, but..." I paused, unable to think about anything else. Every hour of the day, Reed has been on my mind, again, and again without end. I used to have definite reason to flood my thoughts of him, but now I''m not even trying to. I don''t want to outright believe that Luna is right about my feelings, but it''s getting harder to be as certain as before... If I were to say the phrase out loud to Reed, I love you, how would that really feel? Would I love him like a friend, or something more? "Look, it''s not like that Luna. I''ll admit I am more attached to Reed than I expected to be, but¡ª"


    "While that is an understatement, it in itself underlines a potential problem. However, since this is all very complex, it shall go unspoken for now. Lumina, the important thing you need to realize, is that Reed isn''t going to be as receptive to you based entirely on your intentions alone, and you would be wise to consider this."


    "Why are we even arguing about something like this in the first place? He already agreed to call me back more than once. I''m making progress with him, I swear."


    "Are you now?" Hurma stood from her seat, finally with something to say in her usual defiant mood. "Because you should know that this still isn''t enough to honor the deal we have with the queen. It isn''t enough that Reed eventually swears loyalty to The Unity. He must also prove not to be a heathen. Since he is literally that of the same kind, I doubt he would ever wield our malice as it was meant to. Just try to bring up heathenism again with him and see where it all goes."


    I didn''t want to even consider taking advice from her, but Hurma has a good point. I have felt some residual hatred for heathens in Reed, but lately that sensation has been absent. The purge makes it so, and the completion of the purge removes all foreign motivation after enough time... Even so, he doesn''t have to feel the same way right way, I think. "I will ensure that Reed understands all that is wrong with heathenism influences. I know you haven''t been nice about this from the start, but even I will never turn my back on my own... I trust Reed. I trust that everything will eventually go well."


    Even as I said this, I was once again relying on pure faith alone, something he and I keep having to do for some reason. Even so, avoiding heathen influences is exactly what Reed needs anyway, the very thing that will help him attain even more friends. So, I won''t disappoint. We are only getting started after all.

 Chapter 029: Volunteer Jobs

    <hr>


    <12/09/112,119 {Avion 111} - 14:00 | Purifier 370, Karnak, Genosis>


    <Karnak to ACS414 Date Equivalent: 12/09/-35,437>


    "Thank you for helping us out Lumina. With your team here, our group can take a long needed break from this station." After bowing her gratitude towards me and my aggressor group team, Pyre prepared to depart from the station with her hidden friends in tow.


    "It isn''t a big deal Pyre. Look at it this way. It''s been far too long since any of us have volunteered for a single shift outside of the military." In truth, I''ve long been bored out of my mind. While it isn''t ordinary for members of the Altiri military to come down to the surface only to work a specific job, there is no rule against it either if permission is requested in advance.


    I and the rest of the Cy-Stars are here today, at purification station 370, all to help in teams to essentially run the purifier plant. We''re not the only volunteers of course, but today, a majority of the work load shall fall on us. The whole purpose of our job today, is to ensure the next quota is met for the production and processing of unfiltrated Karnak ice into purified drinking water.


    As I stood on the elevated platform dug deep into the surface of our world, I waited for Pyre to take her leave of us, pondering all I would be doing today, and wondering if my sisters were going to enjoy the experience, or not enjoy it. Here in Genosis, we have no economy; no direct currency exists within The Unity, nor has it ever among our people. All of us can grow up to do whatever we want for as long as we want, even if that something turns out to be a lot of nothing. Those who don''t work still get the bare minimum supply levels of water as handouts, while those of us who contribute more are rewarded with additional supplies of water, and sometimes additional accolades used for further authorizations through our scryer society. It''s a relatively simply system, one that has worked for us always.


    There is always going to be a demand for certain workers, especially for critical jobs such as this massive purification plant. Despite how it might sound to others, there will never be a shortage of capable workers either, for the benefit of having the experience alone is more than enough motivation, ample compensation for people like us, who normally don''t get to do this as often. For myself and the Cy-Stars, a shift like this is more fun than it usually would be to another who is used to working here, because our experience for the day has thus been changed in a world that never changes.


    Mere boredom is all it can take to drive an Altiri to do more than the bare minimum for contributions to our society, especially for us in the military, who seldom get to journey back onto Karnak given lack of opportunities. Some don''t need to fight boredom, capable of daily entertainment at our many social hubs scattered throughout the world, but then not everyone is going to be a social butterfly. Resulted from this, for every single job position in our world, no matter the field, all of it is voluntary work. Not one soul is forced to work in a particular shift or study a particular science; we all choose to do this willingly, some knowing they benefit our whole society in doing so, and others for the sake of bringing our unity to higher ascension. Plus, with the extra benefit of being down here to breathe this fresh Karnak air, darkening our view of the star ever so slightly, I couldn''t think of a more serene environment; I really missed this place.


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    "Shall we get started then?" With the same enthusiasm, Junko waited on me to begin the job. The rest of us were separated somewhat, scattered into different zones of the facility, since we had to conduct certain operations in specific orders. With all of us linked in telepathy, it was still as if we were all together, the eleven of us.


    "Yes we shall. As soon as Fionne starts the primary drill, I will launch the conveyors and the crusher." The purifier has many small substations that all perform a set of functions, and the machine is actually a drill as well as a purifier. All of the ice we start with comes directly from the ground, allowable for up to a mile before the surface needs to be surveyed again for structural stability. All forbid anyone ever digs directly into a cave again like that one time...


    As we got started, I made my way over to the controls for the crusher, while Junko went to the controls for the conveyor. The station was built in such a manner that there were connecting bridges of flooring going from one area to another, a network of metal grating, created out of thin layers of ion steel. We of course knew where we were going, and held all knowledge of every function of the entire station, as any volunteer is required to know before starting. The operation was so simple for me, and the experience was all I was hoping for, being so different from an ordinary day of entropy.


    "This is Fionne. Primary drills are running. Standing by for phase two."


    "Roger that Fionne. Junko and I are turning on the next controls now." I had to fiddle a lot between some switches, levers, and buttons, while waiting to check and see if the system was responding to all the input I was giving it. Most of this entire station runs on mechanical design, since the use of terminals would be difficult to implement, given the average air temperature here of nearly -340<sup>o</sup>N.


    Like any routine moment, all of the systems worked out normally, and it was then a wait for Lulu and Derria to start the smelter, after enough time has buffered for the crusher to deliver its broken ice into the smelting machine. The crushed ice from our world is frozen too well, stuck in a solid state with temperatures too low for ordinary heat sources to melt it. Our smelter uses stored electricity brought down from orbital reactor stations to heat coils in a perfectly contained room, producing more than enough heat to liquefy the material. Previous designs of these stations relied on some form of supersonic disruption waves to change the state of water, though this was something I understood far less.


    Once they turn the smelter on, I will then have to travel once more to the injector substation. The injector system does as it sounds, injecting the melted water with a rarely understood non-radioactive isotope solution, dramatically increasing its natural freezing point to about -90<sup>o</sup>N. This treated water is then stored in portable containers that are transported to a room where this temperature is maintained, and later distributed.


    The purification process happens inside of the smelter too, before the injection takes place, separating anything that isn''t water from the fluid, mostly. All of that aside, the process really is not complicated. The entire station purifies and prepares our drinking water on such a massive scale, and there are hundreds of more stations just like this scattered around our planet, all doing the same thing. Since our world is made out of frozen water and many other crystals, it isn''t like we ever have to worry about running out of this resource any time soon.


    Before long, it was our turn to activate the next subsystem, while Ashiela and the others would head to the core monitoring station to ensure everything was running properly. We would also have to backtrack later on and shut down each substation, one by one, in the exact order we''ve been turning them on, all to ensure we don''t overload the plant or too far exceed any quotas.


    All in all, the experience was more fun than I thought it would be. Yeah, it was all basic work that we could not become distracted from, but it was also so different from sitting around on a starship day in and day out with nothing else to do. All things considered, I should come down to Karnak and conduct even more volunteer work. I think countless other aggressor groups are all of the same mind too. The best part is, I can decide when I want to come here and do it over again anytime I want, or leave for something else any time I want. That is how our job system works in The Unity, and so, everyone is happy with the arrangement.


    Since I can''t afford to make any mistakes in the process, I shall continue concentrating my focus onto the task at hand, until my shift finally runs to its end.

 Chapter 030: Reed

    <hr>


    <11/10/149,566 {Avion 148} - 00:00 | Corral Position, Genosis, Altiri Sector Space>


    <Karnak to ACS414 Date Equivalent: 11/10/2010>


    <Telepathic Link: Disabled>


    Even though such little time has passed since our bond has formed, very few know any details about what kind of people we both are. You should already know by now what kind of woman I am, and everything I have done to make all of this possible. Reed on the other hand is a bigger enigma to most, especially to my sisters. Partly this is because, he doesn''t talk about himself much. As observant as the guy is, he''s more self-reserved than I would have expected. He has no problem talking his mouth off through telepathy, but outside of that, Reed is mute, almost never speaking.


    His own family doesn''t know him. He has little if any friends to speak of. I''m even beginning to suspect that Reed doesn''t even know himself as well as he once thought. There was a time when he had such a specific personality, one easy to observe before the purge, how well I remember it.


    With the power of clairvoyance, I watched over him for years, taking most of an interest by the time he was being homeschooled. Personally, the choice to homeschool him made little sense for anybody, but the change in scenery gave many benefits to him and his family. Reed got to have fun during that year, but he also grew into himself more, being in the comfort zone where none would ever judge him.


    I''ve learned already that, Reed is the kind of boy who wants to be alone; not most of the time, but some portions of each day, to unwind and relax, to unload all of his private thoughts into the vast infinite scape of imagination, or to process the existential situation around him. Before the divorce of his parents, life was pretty easy for him despite the lack of interaction, and this is because his family was well balanced.


    He has a younger brother, Ivan, who he doesn''t get along too well with due to their inevitable difference in maturity. He also has a half-sister, but she isn''t around anymore, not that she was the best influence on anybody. His mother, Marrie, worked two jobs at both a day shift and a night shift just to keep living in that home. Reed would often stay up beyond midnight watching game shows on the GSN channel, waiting passively for his mother to return home, before retiring for bed himself. Reed never needed any particular reason to do this, nor was he ever worried about his mother''s return. The simplicity behind such action was more attuned to how he became an avid night person, almost to a point of a possible montrum of the night.


    His father, Nigel, was different. He worked plenty of shifts with only one job, but he wasn''t around as much. Despite this, there was plenty of cohesion available; Reed got along with everyone almost perfectly.


    He favored game shows due to the hidden mechanic of math involved in each game, even if that math was nothing more than specific probability. He would literally draw graphs and charts during some of the games to track the numbers remaining on how likely it would be to win, and in some instance, absorbed some knowledge from the trivia.


    I knew that he wanted to track the numbers, because if there was anything he could to do keep his mind busy, he would willingly go for it. It was strange to see at first. When Reed was back in elementary school, the factors of observation he favored were of those around him, but since we was taken away from that for almost two critical years, that observation fell into other areas, including from within. I was able to deduce all of this without having to read his thoughts.


    The negative impact on all of this led to a slightly longer time outside of school than expected. Essentially, he was held back an entire grade without will or fault of his own, the realization of such too late to fix immediately. Eventually, he was placed back into school by the third grade.


    I also remember how much the kid loved video games. I could somewhat understand why. Putting aside how addictive those consoles might be, we Altiri have no such gaming machines in our world; it is one element of technology we are behind on, where it concerns anything heavy in graphics or in proper design, to which I blame the resource shortage. The point is, these games allowed yet another outlet for him to hyper focus his thoughts on. I could always tell that Reed loved to have something, anything at all occupy much of his mind in all spare time. He was always great with learning and adapting to the world around him.


    The exception came when he was around strangers, of his age or outside his age. He could observe and judge them well enough for his intellect, but despite any judgment, Reed struggled to lift his voice higher than a nervous whisper to say anything to anybody, regardless of intention or gender. There were times it really hurt me to watch, my sympathy grown from wanting him to speak louder and confidently, as I am always able to do.


    The kid was no genius; he didn''t understand as much as he presumed to; even I knew this much. Still, when I compared how he analyzed everything and everyone around him, to the efficiency level anyone else would do, the difference was still staggering. Simply put, he knows more about facial gestures and body language than most his age would. The problem was, knowing this didn''t help him where he wanted help the most.


    Everyone on Earth has probably met that one shy kid in school. Those who observe and never speak are not exactly rare on their own; it doesn''t mean they are great people, but it leaves an air of mystery about them. There could be so much locked behind the self-created prison of any shy human, or sometimes, nothing at all. The problem with people this age, is that going out of one''s way to talk to an introvert is rare in that of itself, and Reed wasn''t being granted any favors that year either.


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    Reed is also very kind, more so than I initially anticipated. He would go out of his way to be helpful to respectful teachers, and there were even times where he cried believing he had made some kind of mistake which hurt someone, like walking headfirst into a teacher and being scolded for it. It didn''t help his friendship situation at all, but Reed wore himself like a badge out in the open. Instead of being rewarded for being who he was, other kids took this as an opening to try bullying him, their efforts only partially impactful.


    All of this is the kind of person Reed is, or I should say, the kind of person Reed used to be... So much has changed since those brighter days. Apparently, not long after his parents divorced, hidden from my own knowledge, he and his mother moved in with an insane lunatic of a heathen, Peterson. The situation was made worse for Reed with Peterson''s monster children came over for a specific summer. Reed told me they were menacing, the son both a punk and a bully; the daughter both a control freak and a potential psychopath by behavior. He claims their behavior was more influenced by Peterson''s ex-wife, but I don''t know who to believe personally. I never once got to see any of it due to the timing of the weather in which it all went down. The point was, Reed''s life was becoming worse and worse the closer it was to the time I decided to send my purge.


    <hr>


    Chapter Theme Shift: Valley of the Ravens ~ VPG (Wind of Spring)</a>


    <hr>


    There was another element to all of this that I didn''t quite anticipate properly though. The purge itself leaves effects on the human mind that greatly stretch and warp the entire personality matrix of the human targeted for that purge. Even though the personality changes revert back after completion, the longer the purge has been going on for, the longer the reversion takes. For Reed in particular, I recall him telling me that he is still very confused about who he is supposed to be...


    Compared to before, I know already that Reed has lost some of his youthful innocence he used to know. He doesn''t smile anymore, and his outlook on everything in life is extremely negative. It''s almost as if he is another person entirely. This much is what I was initially afraid of the entire time, the one thing I wanted to prevent using my purge.


    I of course bare all guilt and shame for confusing Reed as much as I already have with this purge, and while I felt it was necessary, I have also given him an outlet of aggression, convincing him that heathens are an enemy of us all, to himself and to The Unity. I know I''m not wrong to do that, but... Somehow, what I''ve done lacks a misunderstood perfection I cannot exactly describe right now. Did I singlehandedly change all of who Reed used to be, or, is there simply so much more about Reed that I never knew to begin with? Am I the person who misunderstood who Reed was for years on end, or did I merely create paradoxical versions of the person I care about through my own forbidden interference?


    Reed is not happier with my presence in his life right now; that much is clear already. Therefore, I have no idea if the choice I made last year was really the right call or a huge mistake. The thought of this all being for nothing has driven me insane over the past few days, and as such, I have needed my own personal time away from him and my sisters, to think on all of this alone.


    Maybe the biggest problem is that people, Reed included, are not as simple as I made them out to be. I thought Reed wanted to make friends, and while I have been helping him with that goal, I seldom feel any kind of happiness from his mindscape. The thoughts Reed has inside of him, they¡¯re not as black as death, but they''re not clear skies and rainbows either.


    There was a conversation Reed and I had over the weekend, one I think he failed to mention early on in the tales of his own memory. Even though the purge is long gone, the pull of its montrum is still as strong as ever. It''s like some kind of hypnotic trance, of wonder, certainty, and affinity, centered on outer space, centered on the Altiri, and centered on the possibilities of worlds beyond worlds, as he so plainly puts it.


    Reed hasn''t spoken about this montrum in any negative manner. In fact, due to the desires to have his entire mind taken up by intense thoughts, he has welcomed this montrum more than either of us expected, as if he has absorbed himself into some hidden addiction neither of us know enough about. While it may be a good thing for me, in that I may interest him and help him long enough to one day convince Reed that I do exist, some of this feels wrong too, as if some of his thoughts are still not his own, like he''s still being controlled by something that is no longer there, by something I put into place.


    We have no power to mitigate the side effects of a purge, so this was always unavoidable. Even so, I''m worried that I may have caused a little too much influential change in too short of a time... Maybe I''m simply overthinking this. I don''t yet understand Reed as much as I thought I did; that is the only truth I have come to know in the past few days. I don''t see it as a bad thing; the fact that there is much more depth to him than I thought is more wonderful than I could have imagined.


    What''s even more impressive to me is how well he is keeping up with our information. I wouldn''t say he is accepting of all of it, nor will he understand some of the additional context of our world at his current age, but, he has a lot more headspace than anyone I''ve ever seen before, almost as if his default is hypo-stimulation.


    For the tenth time, I am uncertain of all this. Reed and I have only been talking for about a week now, so there is bound to be more change coming. I have to be careful with every step I take, to avoid pushing too much pressure onto him, for I want him to be comfortable in our presence. All of this has been harder on my heart than I expected it to be though. I''ve never been this scared before of the many possibilities of what could happen. Everything could still backfire in my face if I''m not paying enough attention.


    You see, curious readers, Reed is a special person, one in a billion. However, this truth is merely subjective only to my own experience; anyone else is bound to disagree. What matters are the choices that I made. What''s important is the effort I''ve put in to make him happier. Even if nobody cares about either one of us, this is the most important moment in my entire life, so I have no choice but to treat it with utmost seriousness.


    The Altiri are a real race of people in the universe, as much as the humans are. We all coexist together, every last one of us is important, if not to one individual, then to another, given time. I don''t care how Reed sees himself or how unimportant he thinks he is to the world. He''s important enough to me, so that''s all that matters now...


    What''s done can never be undone. Reed has been purged by me, and so he is my human node, bound to me by telepathy for the rest of his entire life, as well as his second life if ever he is open to the idea of transperation. Our fates are forever intertwined now. Reed belongs to me and nobody else. No matter what happens, I''m not going to let him go. I''ve come too far for a bad ending to this recent chaos.


    I love Reed, and I care for him a great deal too. It doesn''t matter what anybody else tells me; I will never see anything wrong with how we feel. No matter what happens to us next, I will not give up on him or myself. After everything I''ve already done, I have no choice but to help him as much as I can, whether anyone thinks I am merely a phantom, or a real leader.

 Chapter 031: Before The Unity (Part 2 ~ Tyranny)

    <hr>


    <07/12/45,453 {Avion 49} - 08:15 | Empyrean Temple, Karnak, Genosis, Altiri Sector Space>


    <Karnak to ACS414 Date Equivalent: 07/12/-102,103>


    In the deepest, darkest past of any Altiri, we all remember the world we used to know, now a shell of what it has turned into. Temples of blue and white, armored in steel rising hundreds of meters high in watch, grew and dominated our surface near the main Empyrean Temple of our god, Legasso. Central hubs for congregation between our towns and cities became busier which each passing year. Within our world never changing, where ice and snow plowed through the air like iron sand, the theme of our worship became so certain in our divine light, the glow a beautiful bright cyan to contrast the blank white, modeled after our very own natural skin.


    This combination of lights, no matter where it occurred has always been sacred to all of us, its pattern so mesmerizing as to bring eternal montrum to all who gaze deeply into it, as if piercing our eyes right beyond the veil of the world beyond what we know. With every breath I took in learning, I absorbed more of this memory, shared by all, witnessed by the brave. During the years of my own upbringing, I had learned so much, yet I knew so little. How often have my eyes lifted far open, my mind in craving for wonder, for all knowledge of our universe and of ourselves, to a point which nearly drove me to madness more times that I could ever count?


    The effect is familiar to most. When we Altiri are first born, there is so much to learn, that our minds and our feelings remain so potent and sharp. Our wishes feel as though they have the power to rewrite the laws of existence in the universe; our thoughts strong enough to make any moment last forever in undying memory, our passion all absorbing, our desires wielded as a blade. Those of us who have aged for so long, lack the same luster in those who haven''t, as if to display their total exhaustion with how long they have been alive for. We Altiri live forever if we do not take sufficient injury, and we give birth to one or more of ourselves, every single time we reach the age of 108 years.


    In the time so long past, I lived right around here, kept myself close to the divine temple, my mind wrapped inside all the culture and teachings which remained holy, which remained law. On this day, I, a woman known by Lumina, was only 92 years old, still young and impressionable, still blinded by the shadows all around us.


    <hr>


    Chapter Theme Shift: A Choir of Angels</a> ~ (unknown artist)


    <hr>


    "Do not fret my daughter. We shall bear witness to his gratefulness someday. It will be time for us to part from here soon. As long as we deliver our respect at this temple, we will always be blessed and protected."


    I wasn''t exactly concerned or worried about the situation. This was something that happened far more often these days than it used to. Here we were at the Empyrean Temple, waiting to catch sight of Legasso. However, like many recent days, he has not shown himself too often or made too many public appearances. Even long after expeditions to planet Zinod have gone on, the space exploration program has taken an unexpected and unexplained pause, based on what my mother tells me.


    "It''s alright mother. I will not fret, for we are blessed with life as you say." I was content with being here, not solely because of our purpose in this place, but rather by our bound presence together. With my mother, I knew I was always going to be safe, that I would continue to learn more things and grow, as I have for 92 years now.


    I knew then and have since been certain of my feelings for her, how much love I could never possibly express in wholeness, for this adult beside me did more than raise me to be a model Altiri. All the times we laughed and played together, all the times we went out into the world, helping and meeting other people from other towns and cities, all of these experiences gave me more purpose and joy than I could have ever imagined otherwise.


    Even though this was not true during this time, long after, I have forgotten both her face, and her name. Therefore, even while living in this memory, trying to recall her exact expressions or voice; it later became shrouded in the distortions of corrupted information. As I looked upon her face, there was nothing but shadowy static void, a visual effect representing what I can no longer remember. Her voice was choppy and distorted as well, fragments of many who are all except for her; my mind''s way of preserving my mother''s words when her voice is all but deleted. Her very own name was also but an enigma, a blank space that blasted itself to my senses the moment it was ever brought up in conversation, by me or by another. The only memory that remained between me and her, are the memories of emotion and feeling we had towards each other, our love unwilling to waiver.


    During this time however, I acted as though nothing were wrong, because during that time, all of my own memories were perfectly intact, long before the Exodus, and long before the Fall of Zinod that would later haunt our world.


    Going back to that day, me and my mother were just about to part from the temple for the rest of the next four cycles, planning to return here later again as routine would dictate. However, this moment was far more memorable for all of us, because today would turn out to be anything but routine. Before mother and I could leave the royal chambers, the scene from a very upset Altiri stole the attention from everyone in the room, prancing in anger on the royal floor, right next to the empty seat of the king.


    <hr>


    Chapter Theme Shift: Mermaid Crystal Body Codes ~ Mitaka Orion (Starseed)</a>


    <hr>


    "I have every right to be out here! My wrath needs to be heard by all of us!" The woman who I''ve never seen before had some frozen moisture around her eyes, indicating she had been upset enough earlier to cry. Her outburst on the other hand was of anger and aggression, in her tone and in her body language. Two additional woman from the area behind the royal floor were coming in, their attention directly on the loud one, in disagreement with her lack of public professionalism.


    "I''m looking at each and every single one of you!" the insane woman pointed and drifted her finger around the room to the many of us who were in the chamber, numbering no more than one hundred. "The daily attendance at our sacred temple is an abomination to the worship our ruler rightfully deserves!"


    I had no idea what was going on or what this woman was talking about, and based on what shared feeling I got from my mother, the confusion was more wide spread than within me. All I could do was watch and listen in silence, trying to understand this soul''s anger. However, when I allowed my own eyes to zoom in a bit further, I noticed another oddity about the girl. The right side of her face was slightly discolored, the middle of her right arm and part of the top of her right wrist was dented somehow, and some amount of her hair had unevenly been chopped off. It was as if several injuries found this woman all at once, like something had beaten her up with bruises and surface-level beatings.


    "Even if our king does not make public appearances, all of you are required to show up here and deliver your support without question. Any rules that Legasso makes about any town or settlement must be followed without question! Any who dare reveal insufficient loyalty to your god will be faced with severe consequences!"


    "Hanoue! We aren''t supposed to be giving these kinds of speeches today! It is only for Legasso to encourage behavior for our support. For the last time, please step down and come back with us!" One of the two guards behind Hanoue was trying to get her to silence her rage, to return to royal chambers which very few have never seen in person before, usually because they are the places nearby where Legasso privately resides, he and his royal servants.


    "The lack of people in our temple is unacceptable. I hereby order all of you loyalists to return to your towns, and ensure everybody there makes their due attendance and tribute! You should all know by now what the true price will be for failing to properly show worship to your king!"


    "That is far enough Hanoue! Come here! I''ll just have to drag you out by force!"


    The display before us felt surreal, as this stranger was obviously someone who felt they could speak on Legasso''s behalf. It was a little harder to take her seriously as she was being dragged away, arms wrapped around her chest by one of the two guards up there, but her words of warning dug into the heart of us.


    It''s no mystery that attendance at the Empyrean Temple has been rather lacking lately. There are clearly logical explanations to excuse it; most Altiri live far away enough from the temple that attendance for them does not happen daily, as it physically cannot happen at all without planned trips. Others willingly choose to arrive here of their own continence and volition. There isn''t really anybody that I personally know who intentionally avoids coming here, or who lacks allegiance to our king and god.


    As Hanoue was being dragged way kicking and shouting, I knew I could understand what was happening here with what context I had. What I didn''t understand was why. Little mishaps happen in the temple here from time to time, based on what stories I hear. Unyielding worship, devotion, and allegiance to Legasso has been a requirement for us all, for quite a long time too. Some of his personal accomplishments in our past are well known, such as the launching of the space exploration program, though other accomplishments are said to be uncertain or unprovable, elapsed from the lost memories of those left behind into the past.


    The reason for coming here is more than mere worship. Since Legasso is here and makes all the rules for us, anyone wishing to do something extraordinary must first seek and gain permission from Legasso with a public appearance. Legasso has shown himself far less recently, which I assumed before now to be the reason for the recent drop in some attendance here. I really don''t know what is going on though, and based on that concerned feeling in her gut, my mother doesn''t know either.


    She glanced back at me with sternness and worry in her voice. "Come on. We must return to our home at once, and report what has happened. Even if this is nothing to worry about, we should never take that chance and defy our ruler."


    "But, who was that lady?" Hanoue, who was long gone by now didn''t seem like someone familiar to me, so I don''t know why we would ever take someone like that seriously.


    "I rarely ever see her, but she is actually a personal disciple of Legasso. Make no mistake my daughter, she has more authority than it seemed just now."


    I held my tongue learning this, deciding it would be best to trust my mother with our next move. A disciple of Legasso is by far the highest and most important job any Altiri can have around here, and they often spend much of their personal time with the man himself, as volunteered servants and much more. "Yes mother. Let us return home then."


    <hr>


    <07/12/45,453 {Avion 49} - 14:25 | Anncoya, Karnak, Genosis>


    <hr>


    Without delay, mother and I returned to our home town called Anncoya, and began taking on the task assigned to us by Hanoue. We directly relayed everything we saw and heard to every neighbor and friend we could find, urging them to tell everyone they knew that more attendance to the temple was being demanded. This task made the day much longer for us, so we frequented some breaks in our own home, a structure made entirely out of ice; a place we could safely drink our water and relax in peace.


    On the third outing of our departing from our home, before mother and I could confirm how much of the town knew about the news spreading far and wide, another disruption of the same caliber broke the quiet calm of our town.


    <hr>


    Chapter Theme Shift: In Favi ~ Ignis Spiritus (In strict Confidence)</a>


    <hr>


    As the mysterious stranger walked in from the east entrance of Anncoya, the emotional atmosphere in most everyone changed so swiftly. Many were shocked to see this person, while others were conflicted with feelings of betrayal and love, making no sense to me at all.


    Whatever this appearance was about, I could instantly feel some strange sensation of sanctity about her, her mere appearance reminding me once again about all of the montrums of our world. Thoughts of sacred temples of ice and time flooded my mind, and upon gazing to this stranger, an overpowering wave of familiarity, combined with my separate montrum merged together, halting my only breath, my attention entirely onto her.


    My mother seemed to react first, only after more than half the entire town started gathering around this person, who seemed to expect this reaction out of us. "My word, Quvailah! It has been so far long since any recall seeing you."


    The woman who my mom addressed as Quvailah gave us a strange hand motion, one usually used to calm any excited person without any words. "I no longer use that designation, loyal Altiri resident. I ensure people address me now as Lady Q."


    I don''t understand; is her name Quvailah or Lady Q? Is her old name nothing but an alias? "Mother?" I addressed. "Who is this person?"


    "Not now Lumina." My mother firm, demanded that all of her current attention be given to Lady Q, though not with welcome intentions in mind. "What are you doing here? Even though what happened to you was so long ago, you were exiled from our society. You have no reason to show up here and mess everything up. The fact that you can''t even use your own name proves to me that you never outlived the shame you brought upon yourself, when you desecrated the sacred halls of our temple, and insulted Legasso to his face."


    "Is that what they say about me these days? It''s a wonder how people still function in this darkening world." Lady Q wasn''t too precise about clearing up what vision my mother had about her.


    From the shortened story my mom just delivered though, I understood now why this person was slightly familiar to me. Many still recognized her face, even though Lady Q has aged up since then. The legend is, this is the one and only lady who directly defiled the temple, refusing any allegiance or worship to Legasso. Hearing that, I wasn''t too happy to see such a person here today either.


    "I am not your enemy," Lady Q reminded in a loud volume, calming herself thereafter to appear innocent and safe. "Also, I have so far frequented many of the other towns and cities. Anncoya is not some place special. In fact, it is quite dangerous of me to show up anywhere near the Empyrean Temple. If any of Legasso''s servants realize I am here, they will likely hunt me down and terminate my life."


    "Isn''t that what you deserve though?"


    "Yeah! Why should we listen to a traitor who turned her back on God?!"


    Many of the townsfolk were instantly beginning to unleash their fury upon her, and all for valid reason too, though Lady Q never showed any hostility or defiance to any of us. "The mutant that you call God is nothing more than a power hungry tyrant. He has high status as king, but I can prove to all of you that he should not be ruling over every one of us."


    "Lady Q," my mother inquired curiously. "What do you mean you can prove it? I mean, what makes you think you know anything about Legasso that the disciples do not know already?"


    "Oh, the disciples already know the truth. The problem is, they can''t really do anything to change their fate, which is now forever to remain a slave of Legasso''s toxic behavior... I must not keep showing my face too blatantly in the same spot while I discuss these matters. I ask that all of you show me to the main space you use for discussions and meetings, and that we talk there. However, for reasons I will reveal soon enough, I want to only speak one on one with Lumina''s mother. All of you are free to listen closely of course. I don''t intend to hide any truth from you."


    This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    "Mom? We should drive off any who oppose our divine rule."


    "Silence Lumina! For once, just let me think in peace." She appeared far more distraught than I was expecting her to be, though with no clear reason why.


    "I encourage anyone to think about things, and make a choice on their own, an act of freedom we seem to lose with each passing day. I know what concerns you, Lumina''s mom. Even your own faith in this system has started to crack ever so slightly. You have noticed the lack of goodwill and favors offered to our kind from the kingdom. You have even felt the disturbance behind the scenes of that disgusting royal chambers, uncertain to pinpoint exactly where those foreign emotions of terror are coming from. And as for today''s spectacle, I bet you are wondering what is going on with Hanoue."


    "Hold on just a sec," my mother intervened with annoyance. "Even if what you say about my judgment is true, you could not possibly know any of my experiences."


    "Oh, but I can. I will cease using that ability for the time being, since I feel it can be rude to intrude the mind without permission, but telepathic reading of thoughts is an ability I have possessed for as long as I have lived. I have also acquired a clairvoyant ability to see into places I should not, though only for short durations and at short distances. You and I have much to discuss, about our future as Altiri, and where we may head if the entire society of us all does not commence to a course correction."


    For a long pause, my mother was silent, considering every word this strange person had to say. It''s incredible that I''ve never heard or seen any kind of ability like this before. Telepathy is something all of us Altiri have by nature, but to enforce it onto another without an established link is a power I''ve never seen before, not even in Legasso... She feels so scary, yet Lady Q is as calm as ever.


    "Alright then. I will gather only some of us directly into the meeting room, so as to not overcrowd the area. Anyone else wanting to listen to our conversation and share may do so, for I and the others will open our minds and allow links to be used. Lady Q? You have an immense amount of explaining to do."


    "Lead the way then."


    Very little time passed for all of us to wind up in the meeting hall, a larger building of ice designed for a purpose much like this one. After all had become comfortable, and fully stocked on purified bottles of water to hold a conversation that would turn out to last for hours long, I waited silently, listening to an exchange of questions and answers that all told a crazy story from start to finish, beginning with where Lady Q has been all of these long years.


    "You know as well as I do the reason I had to change my name and alias many times over. When I was banished from society by Legasso, it meant I was not welcome anywhere. Living so far outside of the established safe zones of our world was possible in all ways except for two. One requirement to live I had lost was the ability to easily acquire a sufficient supply of stored containers of water. I had to be within the establishment to obtain the handouts, yet I was not allowed to be there. In addition to this, while I was okay for a short time, I basically lost my mind trying to live without any company for years and years on end. Being in the presence of others, even if they cannot be designated as friends or family, appears to be another necessity to the mind, though I''m never sure as to why. So, I moved to the furthest self-sufficient town I could, trying to pretend to be somebody else, and I laid low for thousands of years."


    "Then why now have you suddenly chosen to reveal yourself like this? Legasso isn''t going to pardon your crime of returning to a place you have been banished from."


    "I do not seek nor expect a pardon from any authority figure. You must understand, that the reason I stood up to Legasso that one day, was because I could read what was on his mind. As a royal king devoted to the care of his own people, there was a time when he used to genuinely give such care to those around him. But it seems as time went on and he became both self-sufficient and comfortable with his position and power, the only thing that remained priority to him was maintaining his social status, even when it called for sacrifices of people who never had to deal with such rules before my time. Even though I don''t regret what I did that day... I must admit, I was being a bit careless, and totally immature. When I challenged his divine authority, I wasn''t fair in the way I went about it. I allowed my own emotions to dictate my every words and actions, when I should have handled it in a better manner - so to speak."


    "You''re saying that Legasso has not a care in the world for his own people? You expect me to believe that?"


    "Whether or not Legasso cares about his people is no longer something that concerns or worries me. If the problems encroaching upon us were so simple, I would not have come all this way to bring you truth and warning."


    "I do not understand your reason for being here, Lady Q."


    "Please, allow me to break this down further for all of you. You see, it isn''t what I did that day that concerns me now; rather, it is the changes within Legasso I have noticed over the years. Small as they ever may be, Legasso is not the person he used to be. I do not know if my first encounter with him is what started this gradual change, or if the change was always happening without me. The point is, his behavior towards others including himself has progressively worsened over time, as it continues to do so. Since this is a figure in charge of every living creature on our world, I must point out why this should concern everyone greatly."


    "What do you mean by behavioral changes? Can you give us some kind of proof?"


    "That is one reason I am discussing this now. Again, these changes have been going on for a long time, slowly, so as not to be noticed by most of us. Most Altiri who frequent the Empyrean Temple probably have a very high and specific ethereal impression of Legasso, but the truth is, Legasso was born around the eighth or ninth Avion, long after we already existed here. Therefore, at least by technical definitions, he is no god, which is a separate debate from how you would like to worship him as a king or ruler to our world. The biggest fallacy and lie right now, is how much Legasso cares about his people. The truth is, he prioritizes his current status as ruler, and requires constant worship as proof of measurement that his position is not compromised."


    "But, he is ruler of our world. Creator or not, this still demands our willing devotion to Legasso."


    "Just because someone is in charge of a nation, does not mean they should be. I do not wish anarchy on all of us. I want to avoid making any critical mistakes here; I know that the solutions I propose to the problem I have yet to explain will not come easy for any of us, but we must be vigilant by knowing with full disclosure the kind of person why are dealing with. One example is, I bet none of you knew exactly how Legasso treats many of his personal disciples."


    "What do you mean? Would disciples not receive the best possible treatment, serving directly under his rule?"


    "Is that what it looked like when Hanoue appeared before all of you today?" Only minor gasps and murmurs followed the rhetorical question. I could see now why Lady Q wanted to be directly speaking to my mother, for Hanoue would be a specific piece of a puzzle she wanted to use with her speech, and where it regards this town, only me and my mother have witnessed it. The back and forth would continue for longer than I expected it to, but I had no choice but to listen closely and in silence, to all I have ever been taught be deconstructed by this exile.


    "When you read my mind and my memory without permission, it does not make me trust you more, Lady Q."


    "I promise, this is the last time I will attempt to analyze your direct memory or your thoughts. Given your reaction, I say you have a pretty good idea what state Hanoue was in, at least where her body was concerned."


    "What are you implying, Lady Q?"


    "I don''t like to say anything that discomforts people I want to learn to care about, however, ignorance will become a great enemy soon if we react to it all too slowly, so I shall share what I know, learned though many years of passive surveillance I put into those royal chambers using my own clairvoyance. It appears that Legasso favors personal control over every situation so strongly, that he returns any amount of insubordination with all the negative emotions he has been building up, including and not limited to, physical abuse and violence."


    "What? Are you trying to say that Hanoue was angry because Legasso physically beat her or tortured her?"


    "The abuse is as clear as day to any willing to accept the possibility, and as I''ve seen and felt it firsthand, I know this is a certainty. I will even allow all of you to search my memories with a link to put down any doubts to my outrageous claims. Though, the reason Hanoue was upset was exactly for the reason she had been screaming... The crazy things that all those years of torture and abuse does to the mind, well, it isn''t pretty. Some disciples have already lost their minds in horrible ways, just to survive, as Legasso would no sooner put them to death before he allows too much free-will to manifest in those closest to him. Effectively speaking, Legasso''s personal disciples are nothing more than copies of himself at his worst, forged to be that way because he won''t tolerate anything else. He hides this from the public, because he knows that such displays may disrupt the worship he currently seeks. Hanoue is only one of many. More than a hundred Altiri woman have been warped, altered, or destroyed by these methods, methods that have only become even more intense recently than they were in the past."


    "This is all too hard to believe Lady Q. Surely you must be mistaken. This is our king you are accusing!"


    "Again, it makes sense why it would be difficult in plausibility. Surely you have noticed lots of horrible decrees coming directly to the nearby towns. The worst of punishment enacted on innocent Altiri are always done by Legasso''s disciples and not himself, because by doing things this way, his public image remains clear of any act of violence or evil. That''s not all. I''ve most recently heard disturbing news within the royal personal chambers of several plots to take full control over all of us, and instantly punish any and all who are not completely loyal to Legasso''s rule, to the point where even mere question of intention would be met with a fate thousands of times worse than what was thrown to me."


    "What kinds of plots?"


    "I never managed to attain any specific details of what these plots were, but seeing as it involved growing and then using all of the disciples Legasso has at his disposal, I can tell he intends to go through with it, whatever sinister plan he actually has to enact against us."


    "Lady Q," another local addressed, "I don''t believe what you say is true just yet, even though I will find a way to investigate this matter further. But if what you say does turn out to be true, we must separate Legasso from his position of power before he can do us great harm."


    "I''m afraid it might not be that easy," Lady Q returned, regretful that the idea has even surfaced. "Not long ago, I too wondered why I would not go for the simple solution of removing Legasso''s status as ruler. One issue is that this would require majority support from all of our society. If only a select few of us know the truth, and we attempt to remove Legasso from power, even if successful, it will divide our people into a rift so wide, I dare fear we one day attack and destroy each other over the debate of who was right and wrong. And, even though I have not mentioned this yet, while I have frequented several towns and cities doing there what I am doing here, I have not been met with much success. I have already been banished and run out of several areas of residence already. By far, the people of Anncoya are calm, wise, and peaceful. Even if all of you remain skeptics to my news, I am forever grateful to be in your presence, and grateful that you are even willing to listen to what I have been through."


    "Our people need more proof is all. If we can convince the other Altiri that Legasso really committed violence to his own people, treason against our kind, then we would have no problem proving that he must be removed."


    "That too is an immature thought I have abandoned before coming here. There are countless Altiri in our area who devote their entire life and memory to Legasso, so much that any alternate reality that slaps them in the face would be rejected to maintain any level of self-deluded sanity they have left. This as I mentioned would be one of many factors that could lead to a war against ourselves. However, there is a secondary problem with removing Legasso from his position."


    "More than just one huh?"


    "I am convinced already that Legasso being in power is doing more harm than good to our society every cycle that passes. With that said, if he is removed from his position, another must take his place, less we allow anarchy to rule over us. There was once upon a time where we had no planetary ruler controlling anything we did, but with our current resources being squeezed and our continuing ascension of knowledge and evolution of psionic abilities, I think it would be unwise to have no plan for what comes after."


    "Lady Q? I must ask you something about Legasso. Based on everything you''ve seen, is this person the only one of his kind in our entire world? Are there other Legasso-like people running around?"


    "If you refer to his exact personality, my swift answer would be a hard no. He is the only individual in our world I have seen behave this way. However, as for more recent matters, many more Altiri are beginning to inherit this behavior from him, through direct threatening torture no less. And so, any move we make against Legasso, even if peaceful, will be met with any violent interaction from his disciples, as if he were handling us himself. His disciples have become as violent and evil as he has, at least half of them, so it would be wise at this point to assume that such horrible behavior and mannerism can actually spread from person to person. This remains the reason why Legasso and his team are so dangerous. I would at least like to try something before any devious plots are unleashed against us."


    "Well then, if you think removing him from power is not the right move to make in light of such news, what would you do instead?"


    Following the question of our neighbor, I realized how quickly and easily everyone here was convinced of Lady Q''s story, perhaps not enough to believe her, but enough to interact with her to formulate their own pathway of action. I didn''t know what to think. I spent much of my life following what my mother would do, including worshipping Legasso with so much devotion. But if she isn''t raising so much of a fuss over this news, maybe I was wrong about the ruler of Karnak as well.


    Lady Q delivered onto us her updated strategy for dealing with this single tyrant, after having explained how complicated it might be to target the not so alone ruler. "Against a few of us, Legasso cannot be bargained with or reasoned with. The only times he maintains the appearance of valiant behavior is when the eyes of us Altiri are watching him, right on top of the floor of the royal throne room of the Empyrean Temple. This tells me that Legasso still cares about maintaining the public appearance of a kind and caring, benevolent person, which also means he is vulnerable to public pressure, if impactful enough. In addition to this, the people as they are now, at least by majority, see absolutely nothing wrong with Legasso, not even enough to question whether or not he is a true god of anything. So, I have a plan to fix this."


    "Please explain, Lady Q. Be advised, if your plan is one of physical violence, especially when done without warrant and proof of his wrongdoings, I will personally run you out of our town as well."


    "Very well. I shall explain to you the best and most civil way to deal with this. I am personally going to continue collecting evidence against Legasso and his disciples, until I can convince even more people to understand what is going on. This however will take some time, so I must enact another plan in the meantime. I''m going to continue visiting every town and city, and then I will revisit the few places that did not throw me out right away. Listen very carefully to what I want everyone to do."


    After she got all serious, Lady Q went over her brilliant strategy, sounding bold as ever. "In little increments over time, I want all of you to lower the amount of devotion you give to Legasso, publicly I might add. Do increase the attendance to the temple as Hanoue has asked you to, but bring with that attendance, minor disputes that need swift resolutions, questions to the working level of authority within the temple, rumors that not everything in the royal chambers is as it appears to be. You must not be too blunt or too obvious, and it must come from a wide collection of individuals, displayed in such a public place as the temple itself."


    "But, won''t that dramatically enrage Legasso or his servants more, and thus warrant retaliation against us directly?"


    "I will warn that I do not know what to expect on direct retaliation, but I am certain this will enrage those in charge of us all. The thing is, it is easy for Legasso to horrifically punish a small few if they act out, but with all of us, he won''t be able to hide such aggressive behaviors from society. This means one of two things are certain to happen. The first is that he will feel cornered and pressured by the backlash he receives for being too overreaching and too controlling without actually resolving many issues hurting nearby towns. From this pressure, only one of two things will happen next. Action one would be, against my own expectations, yet beneficial to us all, he will give into the pressure we put on him, and become more lenient with what we Altiri need, including giving us more freedom that we seem to have lost. If he does this, not only would all you stand to benefit, but you could also see this as an opportunity to prove me wrong, all without being too defiant to the one you have always looked up to. Or, he will go for action two; doubling down on his own authority, and making such a vile display to try and punish such defiance."


    "That second action does not sound like a win."


    "It will give Legasso what he wants in the short term, but it will also open the eyes of many Altiri who are currently left in question about whether the words I say are true or not. If Legasso isn''t the evil villain I have made him out to be, then surely, a large cluster of Altiri people asking for the faintest amount of returned support would never lead to any vile behavior or reaction from him or his disciples. By retaliating against us, he would inevitably prove once and for all that he has no real intention to help his own people, but instead to maintain an ascension of dominance over all of us. This wins Legasso a small battle, but it will cost him something far greater; lots of that loyalty he so often demands of us. If the Altiri people see this and they then have some reason or footing to believe that what I will later repeat to them is in fact truth, then it means a wider majority of us will then be capable of standing up to him. If enough of us then wish for Legasso to be removed from his position of power, the threat of any internal war against ourselves is next to zero, and from there, it would not be all too difficult to replace him with another ruler, one more fit to lead our planet into prosperity."


    It was the most long-winded explanation of a plan I''ve ever heard in my life, and Lady Q expressed herself in such elegant dictation which I have heard from nobody else before. At first, I thought this stranger was some kind of vile monster of a woman, going by how she was banished and all. But now, I have no such impression of her. I don''t know what to think of the plan, but I was able to understand most of it. It''s so genius, that most including myself would dare to try it, because if Lady Q is right, then what we do would only expose the truth, whether that truth belongs only to Legasso, or to Lady Q. For us who care about the absolute truth, this is a win-win situation, if we all agree to go through with it.


    "That''s about all of it. You see, I already know that my version of this is right, which saddens me to even speak aloud, but in order to convince the others, at least to open a gateway level of trust, I need the help from many like you, people who simply don''t want yourselves or your kind to be treated like animals. If Legasso was not physically harming his own disciples, I would not be here right now trying to do this, as much as I have always despised the man for having sent me away. I''m not doing this for myself. I''m doing this for everyone else, so that all of us can live in harmony again. If you agree to help me, please enact all that I ask you two, in exactly fourteen cycles from now. I wish to try getting even more audience members there before the plan is placed into action, and thus I have more towns and cities to visit."


    "I don''t know if we should do this."


    "I wish to see memory of what Lady Q has seen. She said she would share access with us."


    "I think some of us are still undecided on what to do."


    Lady Q put a swift end to what seemed like a debate about to go out of hand between everyone gathered. "Please, be patient and thoughtful. Before I depart for the next town, I shall share my memory with any who wish to see it. I intend to hide nothing from anyone."


    "I want to see it too." It was the first time I spoke up about anything since attending this meeting. Lady Q says she has seen the violence for herself, and I therefore need to be certain as well.


    "No Lumina. I will share in the memory, but you must keep your head clear."


    "But why? Mother, I should know the truth as well."


    "And you will, but only through me." My mothered glared at me more worried than upset for my argument, but like all good mothers, she secretly shared her concern with me, in hopes I might one day understand why I wasn''t allowed to see this for myself.


    "If what Lady Q has observed is true, I''d rather not expose you to what terrible scene may unfold within my mind. Though, the real reason I must do this alone, is because memory sharing isn''t always safe for the mind. My daughter, you must keep your head free and clear of any possible contamination of memory, especially in your youth of age."


    "What do you mean? Why is it safe for you to do this when it isn''t for me?"


    "It isn''t safe for me to do this; and that''s why I''m doing it, so that you don''t have to take the risk. I love you far too much to allow you to use memory sharing. If you are not careful when you invoke memory sharing, you can wind up losing memory of your own life, overridden and corrupted by the thoughts of the person you share the memory with. It isn''t a high probability, but the risk being there at all is more than enough reason for you to avoid it Lumina. We wouldn''t want you to forget who you and your family are, now would you?"


    "I understand mother... But please do not lose your memory either. I don''t want you to forget who I am."


    "Lumina, I would never dare allow that to happen. There is no need to worry. I have more experience with this kind of thing, so the risk to me is even lower than it would be for you. Now if you will please, wait outside the meeting house for all of us to be done. I will find you after I have learned the truth from Lady Q."


    "Okay... I love you."


    "I love you too Lumina. Take care."


    As instructed, I went outdoors to wait for the Altiri to finish their business with Lady Q, left curious and a little upset that I could not know everything there was to know right away.


    This very morning started off like any normal day, but now everything just feels upside down, the world turned crazy. I didn''t know what would happen next. I didn''t know what I wanted to happen at all. The only thing I was sure about, was that I would be following in the footsteps of the woman who raised me, now and forever, even if it means going against Legasso.

 Chapter 032: Before The Unity (Part 3 ~ The Exodus)

    <hr>


    <11/24/46,790 {Avion 50 (BF)} - 14:25 | Ly-Rain Outskirts, Karnak, Genosis>


    <Karnak to ACS414 Date Equivalent: 11/24/-100,766>


    Even without the freedom Lady Q wanted us to have, we were once a proud and peaceful cluster of people, always gathering together, to sing our sacred hymns echoing throughout the white sands of snow and frost. We were once together, once in harmony, but that time has long slipped away from us.


    What Lady Q had planned for our public defiance against Legasso''s reign was well thought-out, but the issue with her plan was that the results relied on a wider collective of Altiri preparing to act on their own, swiftly. Very few followed our example after what happened that day at the Empyrean Temple. Our soft murmurs and whispers of uncertainty were met with Legasso''s most fierce disciples. They didn''t go easy on anyone who dared to question any loyalty, not even for a moment. Banishments and threats were loud spoken, and spread as news throughout our world.


    Yet, nobody got together to rebel as Lady Q expected, and for a short time, she once again went into hiding, fearful for her own life given what she tried to set into motion. Legasso showed his true colors long ago, proving by Lady Q''s own directive that all he cared about, all he wanted from all of us was absolution, no matter what we had to pay in tribute beyond our own promise. Public opinion of Legasso and the sanctity of the Empyrean Reign fell to new lows, and so many more stopped coming to worship in the temple as a result, a change that took hundreds of years over time. Even with all of this, Legasso remained ruler of our world, our own people too stricken with fear to do something about him, or too concerned with keeping a long-lasting status quo.


    For thousands of years, our world has been peaceful, never changing, never evolving, never growing in any significant manner. The discomfort of breaking from stagnation is likely the reason why our people didn''t try to act directly against Legasso. Most of us moved far away out of town to live in other areas, building our own structures and purifiers on the far side of the planet, so that we can get further away from the problem, but as Legasso''s team of brainwashed and tortured disciples grew, trouble always tried to find us.


    Not everything resisted change though. Those secret plans against our society that Lady Q once mentioned turned out to be all too real, and while the first great change has never been able to be linked to his involvement in any manner, some believe our negative prodaption is intentional, while others believe it is natural, unknown for the reason in its trigger. This prodaption we speak of, it became the very reason our entire population went into a very slow and dangerous decline, for this invisible disease spread to all of us, to myself included, inflected before I ever had a chance to realize it existed.


    At the age of 108, every single Altiri woman will give birth to a daughter, sometimes more than one in a single pregnancy, through parthenogenesis. This rule has existed in our nature since the beginning of our entire existence. In the year 45,000, this rule was broken for the first time, the effect spreading from family to family. I am 1,429 years old, so I was supposed to give birth to my own daughter so long ago. However, when that year for me came, it never happened. My mother went investigating to find out why, only to find that I was not unique to the issue. It had only effected the latest generation of people, and not all at the exact same time. It wasn''t long before our birth rates were crashing all the way down to zero percent, with myself included, a daughter that could no longer become a mother.


    Some questioned whether Legasso had something to do with this, without any proof or idea to how it could be possible. Scientists who thought it was a natural phenomenon had no explanation for why it would happen either. It was the first saddest day of my life, though it was nothing compared to what I was going through now.


    Hundreds of years ago, Legasso launched his real campaign against our defiance, hiding his plan from everyone until it was too late to stop it, a plan that made total use of 1,436 small transport starships.


    When I look up to the sky, be it day or night, amidst the beautiful dark blue hue of our background skybox, I also get to see our incredibly large and beautiful moon, a secondary habitable planet called Zinod. Lately, many Altiri explorers have been mapping out Zinod of their own personal volition, while some have even moved there permanently to stay and live. Many have sent us visions of this planet using their own memory sharing techniques, and despite what warnings my mother used to give me, I did not deny sharing the memory of those who gazed into the abyss of beauty.


    Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    Zinod is one of a kind, a world with higher thermal energy, but just enough cold for us to survive in the warmest zones, zones that contain unfrozen ponds, mycobacterial life as well as larger variety of animals and other species, including abundance of many large trees, and an atmosphere similar enough to Karnak for us to breathe. When Legasso put his plan into action, that secondary beautiful world became the world''s largest prison we would ever know.


    Everyone called it the exodus. Legasso, using his grown team of evil disciples, tracked down and captured any and every Altiri woman who even looked like they were fully grown, separating us from our mothers. They only seemed interested in removing anyone who had either given birth before, or who was capable of it still. The youngest of us, if ever found, were totally left alone.


    As for me, I was more lost than ever before, treading and drifting my legs through the heavy snowfall in the outskirts of the village of Ly-Rain, my face away from the sky, turned adrift from any hope and any happiness. It had only been twelve days ago for me, twelve days since it happened to my own mother. The Exodus had been going on for a while now, so me and my mom got as far away from the temple as possible, heading to the far side of Karnak, where we could live a more quiet and peaceful life.


    But Legasso was too thorough; combing every sector of this planet to find any stragglers. He couldn''t catch every single person, but he was always only after a vast majority, the sole purpose of the Exodus to separate all mothers from their children. Those who were taken prisoners were shoved onto those transport ships, and taken all the way to Zinod, to a place the rest of us would never reach. Some attempted to force their way into those ships, so they too could go to Zinod and reunite. Any who dared tried were taken prisoner elsewhere, to a place where they would be dejected and beaten to a bloody pulp if ever they were released at all; most of us knew not to try it too often.


    Even though all of us knew how to invoke telepathy, we never did figure out the range problem. Our telepathic link, which isn''t supposed to be affected by distance, never could reach and contact those on Zinod, at least, for most of us. Few who were trapped on Karnak, knowing how to get around the issue tried to teach us how to use telepathy to its fullest form, but they were soon discovered by the disciples and taken away as well.


    As for clairvoyance, Lady Q never got her opportunity to teach any of us how to use the ability, since she has been missing for a very long time following the beginning of the Exodus. None of us knew what was going on in Zinod, where our mothers really were, or even if they were still alive and well. They probably had no idea how we were holding up either. Those of us who were left on Karnak, were either too depressed, too confused, or too disconnected with the world around them to formulate any kind of plan to put a stop to the horrible things they were doing to us. Even with some of having thousands of years in age, we didn''t know what to do about this, because we were still only children, and this had never happened before in all of our entire history.


    Legasso doesn''t hold back anymore. Any who dare make even hint of threat to his position or his life has their own life taken instead, by Legasso himself, or by the slaves he has working for him, sharing in the same evil. I was just like everybody else now, motherless, alone, disconnected from any light in my world, for it was all taken away from me, still too recently for my tears to stop.


    Even as I slowly slumped my way to the direction of Ly-Rain, I lost all the hope I had of ever feeling right again. My mother was likely on Zinod by herself, to a place I could never reach, less I risk being executed by the Legasso loyalists. There are thirty-two million of us left on Karnak, and about one million now residing on Zinod. With all of these people, we greatly outnumber Legasso, but we do not overpower him by any means.


    By the time I finally reached Ly-Rain, a town turned desolate from the recent intrusion by Legasso''s forces, I kept my head down, my eyes fogged with grief and worry. I wasn''t home; I was merely seeking refuge with the others, surrounded by strangers I knew too little about, for my previous friends did not move away from Anncoya with us. For hundreds of years, me and my mom hid and avoided those trying to find and take her, and now they have finally found and removed her from my life.


    The few that seemed older or more mature tried to take me in, but all I could do since was curl up into a ball and let myself shiver in the darkness swallowing me. The same had happened to countless other people, full of fear, worry, and woe. Even though Legasso claimed to be ruler of our entire planet and of Zinod, anarchy now settled in, dividing every town and city across the planet. None of us knew what to do; none of us even knew how to fight, and after some witnessed a new ability to kill that only the disciples had, using some kind of crazy beam of ice over and over, nobody dared to try a real rebellion, not for the longest time.


    Days turned to months, and months turned to years, as I buried all my thoughts and feelings away, nomadically moving from city to city, all in a lazy effort to try and stay alive. It was as if time had zoomed by me without a care in the world, leaving me behind like a spec of snow made to be forgotten. No matter who tried to console me, I accepted help from no one. No matter how much fun some could have during the chaos, I lost my smile so long ago, something I knew I would never get back. All hope and faith were drained out of me the day I saw them take my mother from me, as I was powerless to stop it. Little did I know, by waiting long enough, there was still a glimmer of hope waiting for us, a small light at the end of such a dark and painful tunnel.

 Chapter 033: Before The Unity (Part 4 ~ Rebellion)

    <hr>


    <01/19/48,010 {Avion 52 (BF)} - 08:15 | Luxiemaid, Karnak, Genosis, Altiri Sector Space>


    <Karnak to ACS414 Date Equivalent: 01/19/-99,546>


    In the passing of countless hundreds years I searched, nothing ever seemed to quell the splint in my heart. The search for my mother held me in endless turmoil, and with all of the hangars locked down or raided by Legasso''s disciples, I could never hope to hitch a ride off this cursed, barren world. My mother was taken by the enemy, forced onto those transport ships now missing, and dropped off on that faraway moon my mind could never reach.


    The world around us had changed forever, getting worse with each decade''s passing. Lady Q was correct about only one aspect; the majority of us Altiri have finally seen the traitor Legasso for who he really is, and as such have ceased going to the Empyrean Temple. Legasso is hardly respected these days, never again to be referred to as a god. But like a god, he appears to be untouchable, a person above the law due to his status and influence.


    I could care less what happens to our worlds. After she was removed from my presence, all I''ve ever thought about was finding my mother again, someday. No matter the passing of time, I shall never stop searching for her, even if my soul turns to the white sand that blows through our winds, even should my mind wipe its slate clean of all memory but her own.


    For so long though, I''ve never found a whole lot of hope. I stayed in Ly-Rain for so long, but have recently departed from the town, in hopes to find something, anything better than the hopeless horror I''ve been drowning in for too long. The winds of our blizzards sound different every cycle, though I keep asking myself; when will my endless panic attacks cease? What must I do to find her?


    After my slow but certain journey got me to the westward city of Zshonn-Claw, the time I spent there doing so little allowed my ears to catch wind of a fleeting rumor, extending the thinnest thread of hope that I could latch onto. The rumor spread far and wide only recently, that about three towns over due west, Luxiemaid, there was apparently ''our last hope growing there.'' Ominous as it sounded, I wasn''t about to ignore the possibility that we could somehow redeem ourselves of our past failures, our failure to fight back when we still had the chance.


    As much as I didn''t care about Legasso and his evil, if there was ever a real possibility of removing him from his royal seat, then perhaps there would also be a future, one where I could finally board a spaceship, reach the far planet of Zinod, and search for my mother there yet again. So, without delay, I made another journey all the way to Luxiemaid. I braced myself for what unknown hope would await me there, caring not if this was some kind of elaborate trap.


    Such was possible. Rumors from Empyrean Temple have circulated, (false rumors of course), that some clusters of Altiri children (those of us on Karnak) were trying to form a larger kind of rebellion. It didn''t matter if the disciples had evidence or not; rumor was enough reason to imprison or execute such people, even though most of these rumors came from the royal disciples themselves. The Exodus plan was already fulfilled, but our darkness only expanded, as Legasso''s private army slowly expanded, in both numbers and in vile madness hath he spread to them all.


    Despite all my mental preparation, what I met was most unexpected to me. When I reached Luxiemaid, the locals in the city confirmed that the rumor was true, but said nothing on what any of it meant, instead urging all of us to simply remain patient and quiet, as to not arouse any suspicion from the disciples lurking anywhere. I had to wait three days (twelve cycles) of our time to lay my senses onto what exactly brought me here, and at last, my patience was rewarded by a strange yet refreshing moment before us.


    We gathered together, thousands of us altogether in the empty bank of snow just outside the city, below an uplifted stage crafted out of ice, where she made a public appearance in front of all of us.


    <hr>


    Chapter Theme Shift: Polaris ~ Unusual Cosmic Process (Spacetime)</a>


    <hr>


    "Whether you know my face or not, I stand here before you today, to give hope to you all against what has happened to our world. My name is Lady Q!" The grown woman spoke with such passion and volume, so I didn''t recognize her at first. In fact, she was still hard to recognize, since it has been so long a time since I last saw her. Even so, my senses were not deceiving me. This was in all aspects the real Lady Q.


    I had no idea what she was doing here or why. Not long after her plan to incite peaceful dissidence within the temple partially succeed, Lady Q went off the map yet again, going into hiding for so long a time that some of us thought she was merely a legend in some story. More than a thousand years have passed since then, my age now 2,649, myself long grown, though Lady Q appeared to be even older by a small amount.


    In all the time she spent hiding from the backlash that followed, it threw me in all sorts of questions to wonder why she was showing herself yet again. If Legasso ever knew she was still alive, Lady Q would be executed on sight, her treacheries against the disciples well-known by now.


    Apparently, Lady Q said she had some new kind of plan to deal with the threat to our world, though I was fairly skeptical for now. After all, we did what she wanted so long ago, and nothing good ever came of it. How is she so popular now, that rumor of her presence can attract such an immense crowd?


    "Hear me now. My very reason for appearing before you all today, is to help guide us out of ruin, a future no one wants, a future delivered to us by Legasso and his growing army."


    "Didn''t you go into hiding for a thousand years? Why should we listen to someone as random as you now?" It was an outburst from an Altiri I knew not, though her skepticism was not met with immediate disdain from many people in the crowd. I could sense it too, their collective uncertainty and confusion. I misjudged Lady Q''s standing with all of us; popular as she was, she wasn''t as trustworthy as it appeared.


    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    With such height and voice, Lady Q spoke to all of us on that small stage, ensuring her speech and plan were well-heard. "I have made mistakes in my own assessments of the enemy. There was once a time where I believed Legasso would be willing to step down from his position voluntarily, if pressured by enough of us; this assumption was wrong. There was also a time where I believed, that his removal, by any means, would instantly clarify the wrongs in this world; another false assumption. Any society as large and as social as us requires leadership to survive, else doubt will dominate us as individuals, throwing us from our vision, which has already happened despite no change in leadership. And now, after so much time has passed, Legasso is well-protected in his current area of dwelling, by his own combat skills and those shared by the new countless disciples working for him. Removing Legasso by force will no longer be as simple as I once wished it could be."


    "What about our mothers? When can we see them again?"


    "Yeah! When can we see our loved ones? Surly you must know of a way to reach them!"


    "The Exodus has displaced all families, separating most of us who would be considered children by the kingdom, from our mothers, placed and exiled on Zinod, where they too are being held under captive by off-world disciples loyal to Legasso. Taking you to see them again would be a very easy task, but one with a certain and permanent end, not just for yourselves, but for our new rebellion."


    Many more argued back and forth with Lady Q, the distrust hanging so high in the air, it was the strongest scent for Luxiemaid. Eventually, Lady Q quelled the lack of trust, instead opening up about her plans. "Our new rebellion is slowly growing, and I would ask that you all join our ranks. Legasso is an evil person. He doesn''t care about the lives of anybody except for himself, and as long as he remains in a position to rule, he will do everything to ensure we are loyal to him by force, no matter the cost. And yet, there cannot be progress without leadership. So, I ask that all of you follow my lead instead. Should you ever venture anywhere outside this city, you must hide any notion that you have sworn any allegiance to anyone but Legasso, for your own protection and secrecy."


    "What will you do then, Lady Q? How will you remove Legasso from reign, and allow us to see our loved ones again?"


    This entire meeting felt surreal, so I didn''t ask any of the questions myself. I simply stood there, myself as a silent listener. I was curious, curious to see what kind of mastermind plan Lady Q could possibly come up with. It was amazing to see how sharp her mind was in all the time I''ve yet to see her, something I could not claim the same for myself, or even a majority for the rest of the Altiri.


    "This will not be an easy rebellion, and it will take many hundreds of years to implement properly. As it stands now, we outnumber Legasso and his team greatly, but we do not outmatch him in skill, wits, or power. My goal is to change that. I will create a new force to fight this enemy, a force of people made of Altiri, loyal to ourselves, to our world, and to our freedom. I''m going to need all the help I can get, for our growth and everything we do must remain as secret from Legasso''s loyalists as possible. I can assure you he will have a countermeasure for a plan such as mine, and so we must remain discrete."


    "I am with you Lady Q. Those traitors ripped my mother and my friend''s mother from us... I''ve never seen Ellimena since; they took her from me too when she lashed out against the disciples for what they were doing. It is clear to all of us how much harm Legasso intends to bring to us."


    "I will train as many of you as possible how to fight, so that you can be assured a chance of victory if force be necessary to achieve your goal, or to preserve your life. I also intend to build a new, massive fleet of ships in the sky, so that we can take full control of the airspace between Karnak and Zinod. Simply put, we need a new location where we can survive in secrecy, a safe place where we can help store new members."


    Bit by bit, Lady Q broke down how she intended to start this new war against Legasso, and it was more involved than I was expecting it to be before. Given all of the circumstances I was faced with, I felt that I had no other choice but to join this secret society, should I ever hope to get to Zinod again.


    "We will establish several new towns and city dwellings in safer places, some to be close to the dead zones of Karnak, where most Altiri would never dare tread. From there, we can continue to coordinate actions to turn all of Karnak against Legasso, person by person, until Legasso has nowhere left to run or hide. This will be a risky plan of action, but if we do nothing, we will all one day perish under his hand."


    "The Dead Zones of Karnak will keep us hidden Lady Q, but not for too long."


    "That is why we must simultaneously take control of some, but not too many hangars on the planet. We will also build additional hangars nearby, so that ship construction and other sorties can be made into space. We''re going to send extractor ships into the asteroid field, and take all we need to bring even more starships into existence, expanding the fleet in a cycle, until we have at least five thousand. It won''t be easy, but I will attempt to also involve some on Zinod to do the same, expediting the process."


    "If we''re going to build all these ships, wouldn''t it make more sense to just transport all of our mothers from Zinod back to Karnak?"


    "We could, but if we dared to try it, Legasso would surely notice within less than a day, and our act of defiance going out into the open would then force his hand. I know that heathen well enough to estimate that he will have some kind of action to use should we bring everyone back too quickly, perhaps something designed to kill most of us, or to threaten the lives of our own mothers to use as a hostage situation. At the very least, those on Zinod must also be trained on how to fight before I consider the idea."


    "I don''t understand this plan Lady Q. It doesn''t directly do anything to Legasso."


    "Legasso has power and reign only because there are still many loyal to him, even now. I aim to take that away from him, year by year, to grow a separate faction into something so bigger by comparison, Legasso has no chance of winning even if he were to outclass us on skill, intelligence, or threat level. Little at a time, we must learn to outnumber him through a radical shift of allegiance, here on the ground, and up there in outer space. I also intend to build and expand an Altiri space station, so that we can further conduct and conceal operations in any manner we choose. Listen carefully. I tried to make moves against Legasso in the past, and so long as I expected swift results, I failed in every corner. So this time, I will act cautiously and carefully, not recklessly. None of you are required to join me, but seeing as we all want the same thing, peace and unity for all of us in Karnak and Zinod, I doubt many will oppose me. There is no doubt in my mind that Legasso will eventually learn of our plans and especially of my intensions. The goal, is to be too far ahead of him when he does become aware. And so, secrecy is our greatest asset at this moment in time. That is the reason this plan will take a while. I know that all of you are hurting, all of you wanting to be reunited with your family again. If you join us now, I will make it my personal goal to see that you do; no tricks, no lies."


    Just like that, Lady Q had the entire crowd now under her leash, and as for myself, her offer was one I too could never refuse. Before coming here, I had no hope left to cling onto. Strange as it was to see Lady Q taking charge of so much so suddenly, I knew I had to do this, so that I may one day be reunited with my mother. I''ll wait to see her again, even if it takes thousands of more years. We are all in the dark, but maybe soon, Lady Q will lead us into the light. That is the hope I held onto.


    Sure enough, some time passed by us, thousands of years to be exact. By the year 49,000, the new rebellion that Lady Q had created managed to put 4,637 capital-class starships into action, as well as finishing and expanding the construction of a new Altiri Temple, one floating in outer space, far from the reaches and detection of Legasso''s team.


    The transitions were not all too smooth however. Lady Q basically achieved most of what she set out to do, but our presence was eventually picked up by the disciples, Legasso now growing aware that he had a full-blown rebellion on his hands, our numbers growing from a few thousand to more than a hundred thousand. By rule of our new popularity, we formed this faction which her gratefulness now referred to as, The Unity. In addition to this, from proving her intentions clear in her own leadership, we elected her to become our new, rightful leader of both our worlds, The Queen, meant to replace Legasso once he is eventually captured and removed from power.


    Despite minor setbacks, all seemed to be going well, and I just knew I would be seeing my mother again soon... What we were not counting on, was Legasso''s cunning and deadly counter-strategy to our open defiance against him.

 Chapter 034: Before The Unity (Part 5 ~ The Draft)

    <hr>


    <12/04/49,099 {Avion 53 (BF)} - 19:00 | Favika, Karnak, Genosis, Altiri Sector Space>


    <Karnak to ACS414 Date Equivalent: 12/04/-98,475>


    In the years that followed the slowly growing rebellion, our situation on Karnak only became worse with time. This invisible political war between Lady Q and Legasso only made the people of Karnak tense, but even so, the resistance gradually continued to grow, as the efforts and attacks made on various planetary hangars proved successful. By now, the resistance had more than fifty thousand Altiri, willing to fight and die for our new unity.


    As for me, I did the only thing I could, keeping my head down and only helping out with transport missions when I felt an absolute need to do so. I was no fighter; I was no brave disciple of Lady Q. With each passing day I went without hearing a word from my mother, I only grew more afraid than ever before.


    The resistance never stayed in one area for too long, so most of us inherited a nomadic life, moving from town to town, with most of us now in Favika, well-hidden from Legasso''s disciples. I saw so much change occur in record time, as if someone had pressed fast-forward onto all of us, the new queen especially. Lady Q and her new movement were already far more popular and well-known by now than what was ever expected before, our collective allegiance to her growing far beyond the reaches of what we ever felt with the current tyrant in charge of both worlds.


    All of us have forgotten her real name, and the woman who goes by Lady Q is now known to most of us as our new queen, elected by popularity, boosted by our faith in her ability to lead us to better prosperity. Even I am referring to her as our queen now, because I want to believe in her as well. It wasn''t as easy or simple as I felt it to be half the time. I did everything alone, moving through these days without a single friend in the world, all by choice. Having friends just wasn''t worth it anymore.


    With the amount of us who go missing each year, taken and kidnapped by Legasso''s out-of-control secret disciple army, knowing anybody too closely would come with a price, the risk of never seeing them again, and the sadness that would follow. Some embraced this risk anyway, but I was never as strong as many presumed me to be. In my mellowing silence, I gave my support and allegiance to the newly formed unity, a state of existence, a pact between our growing resistance and the new queen running the show herself.


    No matter what I did to keep my face out of public view, or how hard I tried not to rock any boat, the swallowing darkness of depravity was already on our horizon again, with some big news dropping with a massive royal gathering in the city. Of the thousands that were excited to merely meet the queen in person yet again, I couldn''t shake this horrible, threatening sensation consuming every sense I had, as if I could predict the doom that had been chasing us all. Sure enough, Lady Q, after gathering the attention of the masses and amplifying her voice to us telepathically, dropped the first of many bombshells we would now have to face.


    <hr>


    Chapter Theme Shift: In Favi ~ Ignis Spiritus (In strict Confidence)</a>


    <hr>


    "To all new loyalists under our new unity, hear my call, and feel my desperation, for I have made grave discoveries in the past few cycles."


    In the many years behind us after the resistance continued to grow, Lady Q and a few other high ranking disciples under her came to all of us, attempting to expand our psionic powers and further enhance our telepathic abilities. The expansion was no big deal, but for moments like now, it mattered most, as the queen could deliver her voice to every single one of us without any impediment to our chance to hear her word. "I should begin first with the positive news. Legasso and his army of disciples are becoming more aware of our large opposition, including where we primarily operate, though because of our current numbers, he has grown too fearful to face us head on in a direct confrontation. This would normally suggest we have the numbers needed to take a direct fight to his royal chamber door, however, there lies terrible news in what has been learned."


    Without anyone speaking back to return comment or question, out of respect and expectation that all would be revealed, the queen continued her report unimpeded, her emotions gushing out of her heart at the same time, matching the fear she spoke of from within, as well as some form of preemptive guilt none of us understood yet. "Legasso and his top scientists have developed new experimental technology, combining an unknown elemental compound with destructive devices. We have currently referred to these devices as Elemental Bombs, or E-Bombs for short. Rumor has it, that a single detonation from just one of these devices carries a force destructive enough to bring about the end of our world, permanently so."


    Several of us gasped through the silent winds blowing cold all around us, and with them, my mouth hung open too, unwilling to believe that such an invention were even possible. A single bomb that could destroy the whole world? Is she mistaken? Is Legasso out of his mind to think that the mere threat of such would even be worth it? What kind of ruler demands allegiance through such fear?


    "We have confirmed that the design is no elaborate joke. While I do not believe Legasso would so easily use one of these devices, his mere possession and control of such will hamper any strong opposition made against his direction. If we take a physical fight to him now, while he is well-guarded, he may attempt to detonate one of these bombs. Legasso has taken our entire planet hostage using a new method, and guaranteed his immediate safety with threat of this device."


    "What are we to do then?! If our unity cannot fight Legasso, then all of this was for nothing!" A nervous Altiri cried out in desperation, as I wanted to, though most of us remained calm, expecting some kind of adaption to the plan.


    "The design specs of this bomb is not clear, and he has likely moved most of these devices to a separate hiding spot to reduce the chance of us raiding the main armory and cache. Legasso has made his intentions and tactics very simple and easy to understand. If we threaten his life or go after him directly, even if he resides on the same planet, he will remove all of us from the planet. His personal disciples probably have the same instruction in mind too, at least those closest to his false divinity. Our top scryers and I have been investigating the estimated destructive force of these bombs, and we have come up with a possible plan."


    "With the payload force yet to be confirmed in strength, we have determined that both Karnak and Zinod will be safe if such a device were only to detonate in the depths of outer space, far away from the gravity well of either world. We have also concluded, that while our next course of action carries risk, it would be most wise to separate Legasso from as many of his disciples as possible. If we can single him out, and do so while his location exits from our planetary surface, we can move in to capture or eliminate him as a target, and simultaneously improve our odds of raiding the Empyrean Temple before news of his capture can spread to his closest loyalists."


    "But how would we ever separate him from his disciples? He has too many working for him."


    One of the civilians here made an excellent point. Our resistance now greatly outnumbers the amount of disciples Legasso has on his side, but there are still too many. If they become provoked into activating a single bomb, it will be game over. Still, the queen made sure to elaborate on her altered plan of action easily.


    "In exactly two months, we will ensure that word of these bombs spreads far and wide, to as many as possible. I do not currently believe that Legasso''s personal disciples know about the existence of these bombs, at least, no more than twelve of his closest elites. The other thousands of those loyal to Legasso may lose their will to follow a leader willing to add world destruction as a last resort possibility, and so by making them aware, we may reduce their numbers further. As for our plan to separate Legasso from his closest team, we need to increase his awareness of us as a strong threat, while removing ourselves from one particular location, so that he cannot merely take simplistic measures. He would never dare destroy Karnak and himself if the majority of his own enemy are safely away from the radius of such weapons."


    It was then when she made it clear to all of us what it would take to catch this madman. "We must venture and keep ourselves in space, until the day comes where we can provoke Legasso to leave the safety net of Karnak. As such, we must be ready for any eventuality. Even this plan could take years to hatch, but I now see no other choice... As acting queen of our new unity, in order to protect the future of our society, and bring to justice those who dare threaten all of us, I must induce a mandate, the institution of a mandatory military draft, so that our numbers are instantly brought up to standard. I cannot possibly fit all fifty thousand of us into space, so some of you will have to remain operating here on the ground in our new meeting points, while the other lucky ones be collected and divided into teams. You will learn to pilot capital-class spacecraft, and from there, learn other military skills as well, such as advanced combat, advanced abilities of the body, and advanced abilities of the mind, through psionic expansion. Our fleet can only hold about 35,000, and we can continue the expansion with manufacturing operations continuing from support on the ground in our captured hangars, and in outer space, from the new manufacturing plant in our new Altiri Temple."


    While it was clear that the queen was getting all serious, almost half of all of us threw our complaints loud into the air, while nervous murmurs and fearful debates cluttered our thought waves. I was among the same caliber, my heart now racing at the mere thought of being forced into some kind of new military that I didn''t ask for. The queen was going all out, tuning a mere resistance into a full blown national military, a force that could fight on the ground and in space. The issue came with one specific phrase, mandatory.


    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    "I have already made my selection, mostly random. Using the digital terminal and info station, you find a very long, though highly organized list of names. If your name is on the first list, you have been selected for this draft, and your choice to opt out is null and void. We need all the help we can get, and of everyone here, we will not lose a single soul to the enemy, who will undoubtedly have far worse in mind for your future if they learn of your involvement with us. List one will be our primary force, where list two will be reserved for a special, smaller taskforce to remain here on the surface, providing logistical updates and intelligence."


    I refused to go anywhere near the terminal, with several of us in panic. I had a gut feeling my name would be on there somewhere. Though as I turned around to exit from the city, I learned that the exit was already being guarded by too many, people now adamant on ensuring nobody deserts this military before having the chance to run. I wasn''t the only one too afraid to move in either direction, but my defiance and my fear were completely ignored. In only ten minutes, older Altiri officials found us, one by one, those of us who didn''t want to move forward or backward, and wielded themselves as the queen''s will.


    "You are Lumina, yes? Your name is on the list for orbital defense fleet, designation team, Cy-Stars. Please come with us and do not struggle."


    "No!" I shouted with desperation, turning around to try running anyway, though the woman behind me reached for my right arm, holding me firm and tight, no matter how much I squirmed. Through my own struggle, I saw the same happening to dozens of more people all around us, the crowd now dispersing in the chaos that was building.


    "I am sorry about invoking force for this operation Lumina, but you must not dare resist. Our great queen has a plan for all of us, and I can personally assure your own safety."


    "Let me go!" I cried once more. "Let me go! You can''t do this to me!" I used as much force as I could, putting up a real struggle of brute force, but the two holding me down were much stronger. The queen chose very specific personnel to handle people like me, who would refuse to be part of the military and escape, so I could not escape them.


    "We have to do this together Lumina! Do not force us to take drastic measures to put you into that ship. Even if you escaped from us, your fate against the enemy disciples would be far more dangerous than this."


    Even in the new uproar of force and outcries, the queen continued preaching to all of us, delivering her calm reasoning to why everyone here should accept this fate. "Your resistance to our recruitment is unnecessary, as is your fear of the new life style. Keep in mind that this is only temporary. As soon as our enemy falls, our military will become a voluntary force; on this you have my ultimate promise. Our program will cycle you in and out of your new spacecraft roles, and in positions of the Altiri Temple. You will all learn how to conduct yourselves professionally and responsibly. It won''t be easy, but you will be safe up there."


    "I said let go of me!" No matter how much of a fight I put up, the guards holding me down wouldn''t falter. Even in the queen''s forced speech beamed through our collective minds, not a single one of us became pacified by her reasoning. However, what she went for next turned into a soothing promise of hope, one powerful enough to force us to question everything we were doing.


    "Please, sisters of The Unity, remember and recall how this helps you reunite with the ones who were taken from you. Your mothers all reside on Planet Zinod, forced there by the same enemy we share. Our starships are not transports, so rescuing all of them so swiftly won''t be a simple task, nor can we succeed with Legasso''s forces standing by to capture and put them right back onto that moon. But should we come together and defeat this threat once and for all, you can be reunited with your true family. We can reverse the Exodus that was brought upon us all, and return to an era better than the last, where nobody is required due worship, where nobody is banished from a town or city for mere blasphemy, and to which our unity will grow with kindness and prosperity that we ourselves will deliver... You want to see your mothers again, right? I promise nothing in the term of haste, but I am no liar. Work with me; forge our new Altiri Military, embrace your new team with your lives, and that which has been lost, shall be recovered."


    Her words, so potent and sharp brought a kind of calm within most of us, especially within myself. I still didn''t want to do this, to join a dangerous military, or to be forced into it either, but at the mere mention of seeing my mother on Zinod again, I remembered my Avion-long mission to find her again. The queen speaks at least one valid truth in this madness. As long as I remain trapped here on Karnak, I cannot see my mother. Should I instead venture into outer space, even if they won''t let me land on Zinod immediately, at the very least, I will be closer to her, and I can possibly defend her... I can wait until an opportunity to search for her on Zinod presents itself; this is an absolute fact. The hope of executing such a maneuver pacified my fears entirely, dropping my strength, so that the guards could show me to the special hangar, to a ship I would be forced to board. However, from the look around me, there were at least a select few Altiri in my position who ignored such hope and resisted anyway, only to be dragged from the place by force. Between the nature of her actions and the promise in her heart, I couldn''t be sure if Lady Q was doing something incredible or horrible.


    "Because we cannot win this war in a single, simple move, we shall take back control of our worlds, inch by inch, in similar manner by which it was taken from us. We shall grow our military in time, gather even more of us into space, and provoke Legasso to make an unwise move, one that will eliminate his protection, and his hostage status he currently claims on Karnak. Follow our guards to the designated hangars nearby, so that we can all start our new journey together, not as individuals divided, but as one collective force of hearts and minds, to our new unity!"


    It was still highly unsettling for all of us, knowing we were not being given much choice in the matter of joining this crusade, and it also wasn''t pretty watching how the few who remained defensive and resisting the process were treated for their dismay. Even so, I decided to take my chances today, making way to the hangar under supervision, until I was finally where I needed to be. The hangar I went to was massive in size, and stocked to the brim with space ships, more of which were apparently hiding in space, others at different temples or hangars.


    I still wasn''t certain of anything, and I moved without certainty or decisiveness, my fears of the unknown still prevalent in every manner. As soon as I reached the inner-depth of the FS Triag class starship, I was face-to-face with another young Altiri, around my age, and she too was unwilling to say or do much, her mind a mess of uncertainty, shaken apart by this life-change forced upon us all.


    Something about sharing the same situation as her allowed me to trust her more than I normally would trust any stranger, but I didn''t openly speak to her yet. I first had no idea what was going on or what I was supposed to do. The guards that escorted us onto this ship exited from the vehicle soon after, merely giving us the instruction to sit ourselves in the two seats within the cockpit room, and to not bother touching any of the controls. It turns out the navigation system was set to a pre-programmed operation, allowing the ship to virtually fly itself into space, and later dock with the Altiri Temple, the new one which the queen had built outside the reach of Legasso''s forces.


    I can''t say I enjoyed most of the experience. Being launched into space for the very first time was terrifying enough on its own, and even though the ship did most of the work for us, some telepathic person from the space hangar had to guide us in with some level of manual control and on-the-spot training. Since any deviation from instructions was potentially lethal, none of us dared trying to make a move.


    However, I would never forget this day, nor the experience I had with this other person. Before we had reached the Altiri Temple, I managed to get this stranger to speak to me, even though I was struggling to get over my own shines in retrospect. No matter how scared we both were for what would become of our shared future, the only thing we could do now was try to trust each other, and work through the difficulty together.


    "I know this is scary for you and me both. But please control your fear. No matter what they decide to do with us, no matter what they want to put us through, all of it will be worth it. I will make sure it will be worth it."


    "How can you be so sure? We''re no longer able to decide our own fate! I can''t believe they stuffed me onto this ship with no warning or training! I''ve never been away from Karnak before!" She was clearly upset as I was from earlier, but my only hope of sharing in her faith was to prove to her I knew what I was doing.


    "We are all being forced into this. This is my first time in space too. I cannot take direct action that I need to quite yet, but since they want to teach us all how to fly a ship and fight, I will allow them to forge me into a more capable person. If I do that, if I allow them to push me into a capable warrior, I can then regain my free will, and fly this metal triangle right where we both belong, on the very planet where our mothers have been taken hostage."


    My own resolve was stronger than the fear consuming so many of us right now, and my promise seemed to demand total attention from the stranger next to me, studying me like I was some kind of alien to be reckoned with. I wasn''t kidding myself. Even if they force all of us into a military, once trained, they cannot keep us in that unit. So, I''ll play their game for now. As much as I hate Legasso, I love my mother far more than anything or anyone, and so I will see her again. I have to do everything right though, time everything perfectly. I already know that if I land this ship on Zinod, I''m not going to just waltz out and meet my mother. She could be anywhere on that world, anywhere I would not know, a planet almost the same size of Karnak. If I desert the military even for a day, after having been trained, I''m certain the elite members of this new unity will come after us with everything they have. Given that, I need to make sure this new partner of mine knows of the same discipline. "Just trust me. You and I both must wait a while before making our move to reach Zinod and save our mothers. If we act too quickly, we won''t succeed... I''m scared too, but I won''t be slowed down by this feeling, not when I''m so close to having her back."


    "You don''t say..." Even now, she was still amazed, either by something I said or some other trait I wasn''t aware of. Truth be told, it was now making me nervous. "I don''t know if I should trust you yet... But I also seem to lack options right now. For now at least, I will go along with your plan. Before I say anymore, I must have your name if I''m to agree to anything."


    "Of course," I allowed, observing all of the automated processes that the navigation HUD was handling. "My name is Lumina. I grew up a lot in Anncoya."


    "Okay, Lumina. My name is Junko. The town I came from was overwhelmed recently, so nobody knows what to call it anymore. Legasso''s disciples took it over and declared it an investigation zone. I got out of there before they knew I existed, but I''ve been bouncing between towns and cities ever since... I shouldn''t have come to Favika though. Of all days, I didn''t know this was going to happen to me!" Suddenly, the nervousness Junko abandoned seemed to be returning to her, and I could just as quickly identify her panic, something still within myself.


    I swiftly held Junko by both shoulders, piercing my gaze into her nervous cyan-colored eyes with all the reassurance I had. "None of us knew this would happen Junko. Just focus on what''s important and right in front of us. All we can do right now is deal with the current moment, not what happened before, not what mistakes we''ve already made."


    Indeed, my journey to Favika was never made on the insane premise of a military draft either, but unlike Junko, my presence there was no accident. Even though a small amount of my support to the resistance was of genuine intention to help while I had time, my true purpose was to shadow those closest to Lady Q, so that I may one day learn what happened to my mother...


    Against her own advice, I''ve been getting some members of her team to trust me, and following that trust with small moments of memory sharing, so that I could trace what has been going on around me, building a bigger picture. As dangerous as memory sharing is said to be, I won''t let any threat of fear keep me from finding a ship to bring me to space. Ironically, all of that searching has brought me into outer space, but with a few twists in my intentions. The ship I''m currently on right now will soon be registered to me, but I do not control it; I don''t even know how to fly one at this time.


    No matter what happens, I will use what little thread I am given, grasp onto that string, and use it to climb to my ultimate destiny. If Junko wants to be reunited with her mother too, I will share this thin rope with her, so long as she avoids the same mistakes I must when getting the royal guards to trust us. Heck, I''ll extend the same offer to the entire team of Cy-Stars, if they are proven to be trustworthy. This is my goal; this is my focus! I am only loyal to the people I care most about, so when that day of reckoning comes, I will leave the fighting to the true warriors, and remove any problem in my way, until I fully remember that comfort and happy feeling I got when I hung out with my mother... My memories of her are not as strong as they should be, now that I think on it, but I must focus on what is truly important for now.

 Chapter 035: Before The Unity (Part 6 ~ Fall of Zinod)

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    <09/22/49,139 {Avion 49 (AF)} - 13:25 | Corral Position, Karnak, Genosis, Altiri Sector Space>


    <Karnak to ACS414 Date Equivalent: 09/22/-98,435>


    Forty short years is all it took to change us all. It felt as if I were almost a different person entirely, between the day I was shoved into this military draft, and how far I have come now in strength. Never once was there a time where I forgot my true mission of finding my mother on Zinod. After so long in the training program, I became stronger, day by day, hour by hour.


    The queen of The Unity made certain on her promise to raise a capable army against Legasso in the shortest time possible, all while contributing even more starships to the Aggressor Group Force, our numbers nearing five thousand for an effective fleet, currently dispersed to form an interception grid should Legasso take to the stars. It was the moment the queen was waiting for, the moment Legasso would be vulnerable and without his disciple army to protect him, but it was also a moment that never came to our expectations.


    Keeping alive the passion I nearly lost forty years back, I made sure to give competition to all in the training program, to be the best in raw strength, the fastest in hand-to-hand combat maneuvers, the proudest warrior of ice I could ever be. Even though Sherika had initially been in charge of our powerful group of eleven, my delegation skills surfaced and called assumed responsibility through my actions; and so in short time after our congregation, I became the leader of the Cy-Stars Aggressor Group without ever asking for it.


    Even so, forty years was a long wait for most of us, given what we knew would happen in the end. There would come a day where we would have to land on Zinod, perhaps in search of an insurgency, or for Legasso himself, should he escape the net we''ve cast in the vacuum skies. From such a moment, I knew we would all be capable of searching for our loved ones. We could have started at any time, but all of us chose to hold back, embracing our duty in contradiction to our hearts'' ultimate desires.


    To act against the queen, committing dereliction of duty among our group was something we contemplated too many times to count, for this is a war we never asked for. It was also a path we could never walk backwards from, an action that would have us booted from the same military. As nice as it sounded at the time, I grew evermore hateful of the situation surrounding us, hateful of all the horrible things that happened to me, and hateful of the one who set such situations into motion, Legasso. In time, my need to capture and put down this tyrant began to equal my need to find my mother and bring her home; for I wanted to return to a home worth praising, a home worth worshipping, a home we could all call safe in time.


    I wanted all of this for more than just myself too, as I was slowly growing fond of the crewmates I''ve been forced to work with over the years. We were all banded together the day of the draft, me with Junko, and then us with four other ships, consisting of nine other people total; Sherika, Rose, Derria, Fionne, Ashiela, Hurma, Talor, Luna, and Lulu, all of us together making up the Cy-Stars Aggressor Group.


    Where we grew inwards, we also strengthened our bodies outwards, learning how to fight, learning how to move and flip through the air like acrobats, learning to blast a beam of ice from our hands using a form of flash-condensation, learning to wield a sword of ice like a professional, learning to pilot these starships like experts, and even learning how to make more masterful use of our psionic powers, through telepathy and clairvoyance, though expanding those two powers was a challenge still in progress for most.


    There was still so much more to learn, much more the queen wanted to prepare us for, and we could clearly see now what her big plan was all this time. Our training program is fierce, top-tier, the best it has ever been, so intense that even ten Altiri warriors would give an army of fifty disciples a rough time. At last, we already outnumbered Legasso in strength, in numbers, in skill, and in resolve, but in all this time of our new upbringing, he still had his one trump card; the E-bomb, something Altiri scientists predict could wipe out the population of an entire planet wide-spread, ending our entire race.


    Indeed, Legasso learned of our existence from the surface a while ago, becoming keen and aware of our presence, of our threat to his reign, and how well the queen worked to trap him on Karnak, only prepared to make a move when he makes his. Against what I knew, the queen actually planned to take this fight to the ground after enough time, a date coming up very soon... But as our luck would have it, that date never came.


    "This is Scryer Group Fourteen to Cy-Stars, relaying emergency message from the queen."


    Her voice woke me from my era of silent thought and daydream, a mental trance I placed myself inside of to keep my mind sharp. We have always run many drills on protocols in the recent past to ensure we would be ready for anything, but the very nature and tone of this scryer fell far from the reaches of what we thought to be used to. "This is Lumina of the Cy-Stars. We hear you SG-14. Please report." Our telepathy could reach greater distances after our training. It was also strong enough to reach Planet Zinod, though those on Zinod''s surface were mostly incapable of returning the same energy, so it was hard to learn what was going on over there. SG-14 is an Aggressor Group like us, specializing in long-range clairvoyance rather than fighting, so they should know what is going on around our world.


    <hr>


    Chapter Theme Shift: Five On The Hunt ~ Benjamin Pinkerton (Dark Matter OST)</a>


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    "We have confirmed reports that three unauthorized starships have launched around the same time from separate hangars on the surface of Karnak. One class is unknown, and two more transports are hanging near the low-atmosphere area of Karnak. Standby for details."


    I didn''t want to be shocked or zapped awake by such uncertain news, but it was impossible not to be brought to full mental speed now. Something like this has already happened once before; it really could be him. Our ships have an advanced RADAR detection system, but they aren''t too reliable a system just yet. A few years back, an unknown ship made mission to and from Zinod back to Karnak, and many think it was Legasso, but the reports could never be confirmed. We stick to the likely conclusion that it was a scout.


    Right now on the other hand, this current report makes much less sense in its timing and totality of intent. This shouldn''t be Legasso''s next move, because it would be too stupid of him to try. Then again, if his starship is much faster than ours, he could get to Zinod before we have a chance to intercept him, should his detection run late. "I do not have confirmation on sector coordinates. Can you please confirm last known location, heading, and design ordinance?"


    "One moment Lumina. Our great queen is figuring it out now..."


    Could it really be that the day has finally come? Is it our time to wipe the galaxy clean of this parasite and regain what rightfully belongs to us? If the queen herself is taking precedence on this matter, then it must be an important target, none other than Legasso himself. I would start our Sunder-Crelessive Plasma engines right now and find this lone ship, but we cannot act outside of the queen''s wishes.


    "This is your great queen of The Unity, coming loud and clear to all Altiri Aggressor Groups! I have confirmed the presence of Legasso on the unidentified ship; it''s him. All Aggressor Groups between the grid sector of ZF and HF are to pull your fleets closer to the temple and to form a counter-intercept force should this ship turn around. All other aggressor groups are to spool thrusters to full power and make haste landing on Planet Zinod. Legasso is heading to Zinod by himself, and this is our chance to single him out."


    I was already taken aback by the long-awaited opportunity I''ve been hoping for, but also by the sheer stupidity of this one enemy. The queen has been waiting for Legasso to make a risky move like this, and he did so knowing of our presence. "Scryer Group Fourteen to all units; Legasso''s personal ship has been confirmed, already beyond the A-1 Field. Any pursuit may have to continue on the ground."


    It''s as we thought then. Legasso''s ship is harder to detect electronically, and while our scryers can snuff out the intruder in space, clairvoyance relies on precise location. Legasso snuck right past our security grid like it was nothing, but he isn''t getting away now. Furthermore, by landing on Zinod, he has given all of us too good a reason to resist chasing him. We can now eliminate Legasso and find our family all in the same frame of time; checkmate! "This is leader of the Cy-Stars! We are closing in on intercept course to Zinod. We should arrive there first, no less than fifty minutes."


    The voice of our queen acknowledged our new flight plan with skeptical delight; even with the good news, she remained ever cautious of the situation. "Confirmed Cy-Stars. By luck alone, you happen to be the closest Aggressor Group Fleet to the planetary surface, rotation specs suggesting you land on Hangar Platform Z-15. The other fleets are behind you... You know what has to be done if you come face-to-face with Legasso. A terrorist like that deserves to perish; though captured alive or dead is entirely up to your discretion."


    "Affirmative." Like it''s even a real choice! The very thought of his name tightens every nerve in my anger! Legasso! He''s the same person who brought ruin and rot to our world in Karnak, the same person who has beaten and abused countless of his own disciples, and the same person who took my mother away from me. There isn''t a doubt in my mind which choice I am to make here. When I find Legasso, he won''t be returning with us alive. All these years of training have led up to this very moment, and I will not squander them!


    "Maximum acceleration Junko! Other Cy-Star members? Form up on me. We''re landing on Zinod." I already went to work entering the proper coordinates, while Junko lowered the power of the AGCR system preluding our acceleration forward. In the swift moment of our haste and desperation, all of us began acting as one, our minds cemented together in the same ultimate mission. It went far beyond what myself and the others felt; every other aggressor group in pursuit to Zinod felt the same way between their vengeance or their certainty to take Legasso in, our hearts synchronized in unity.


    "This is Scryer Group Twelve, leader speaking. I''m going to try sending a one-way warning to the people down on Zinod that Legasso''s arrival is certain and not mere rumor."


    "You are free to converse freely everyone, if you find yourselves capable of dialogue on Zinod. It has been too quiet down there, even by my standards." The queen spoke of strange experiences, as most on Zinod never figured out long-range telepathy or clairvoyance, due to our inability to go there and train them, but there were always a very small number of outliers who could. Those outliers are part of whom the queen mentioned, those who have recently gone silent, for reason unknown.


    For the next thirty minutes, our chase became too taxing on my mind, alerting beyond a point of normal stress, the excessive anxiety I brought only to myself in the wait. Close as we were to Zinod, what made this so horrible for me was my current inability to intervene with whatever Legasso is doing down there. My entire crew could bath in my nervousness, and yet the only moment that made me feel calm was admission from the queen''s similar fear.


    "Tactically speaking, this move doesn''t make any sense. Is Legasso switching planets to make his control of the population easier by sheer number alone?"


    "I do not believe so, my great queen." Patched into a growing telepathic grid between us Altiri and the queen, the rest of us listened to the mysterious inquiry of Legasso''s likely motives. "There are 32 million of us on Karnak, and only about one million on Zinod. However, those in Zinod will certainly be wide awake to Legasso''s true intentions, and while alone, they may even begin a skirmish against him the moment his presence is made aware."


    "I figured this much already. The situation still does not put my mind to ease... It''s been over thirty minutes since he has landed on Zinod. Relay a message to our forces on Karnak to band together and begin the raid of the Empyrean Temple. Target Legasso''s personal quarters. All Scryer Groups, continue trying to relocate Legasso on Zinod. He must be somewhere. I want a visual!"


    "Just fifteen more minutes," I whispered through my teeth, suffocated by the anticipation of bringing this war to a close. We already had Zinod forward in our sights, closing in with every second, our ships speedy in their design. At last, I would get to take part in this execution myself, and then abandon the military as I planned to all these long years ago, enacting the promise I made to myself and to Junko.


    Junko even fancied a glance to my direction, nodding in approval for what we secretly agreed to, the moment now upon us. With both of us at the controls, we worked overtime to ensure not one mistake could be made. "Deceleration will start as soon as we get closer to the atmosphere. We will make haste with our landing Lumina, but cautiously as to avoid collision. Remember that the exact gravity parameters will be different for Zinod."


    "I know. You don''t have to tell me."


    "My great queen! There''s a problem! Massive seismic disturbances all over the surface!"


    None of us know who was screaming her warning or what it even meant, but the Cy-Stars and I would not have any time to process any of it, for one crisis followed another in a cascade of events. Before I knew it, all of my senses and surrounding were suddenly flooded with perceptions not of this world, beamed through my mind and stretched in fast-forward motion that made little sense. It brought me to my knees, knocking me from my cockpit seat, and whatever was happening to me echoed all the same with every crewmate on my team.


    <hr>


    Chapter Theme Shift: Malebolge ~ Ace Combat 6 OST</a>


    <hr>


    It was as if I were stuck in another place, living the life of someone else over the course of a minute, over and over without end. It was more than just a disconnected experience; the anger, the sadness, the regret, the hope, all of it filled my blood as I struggled to come to grasp with what was happening. All of where I was became overridden with flash moments sped up greatly, moments of another''s entire life as it was lived recently. An unknown level of time passed before I was finally returning to my own senses, dazed and confused, Junko helping me up while our ship was no longer in quick momentum.


    "Junko! What happened?" Still as dazed as I was a moment ago, though the strong vision of another captured my mind, I was just barely coherent enough to function.


    "I was going to ask you. I forced all of our ships to halt our intercept-course... You felt it too, right; that burst transmission?"


    "Burst-transmission? Junko, what¡ª" I couldn''t even put together what she meant before the gravity of her words knocked me from my focus. I knew in passing what the phrase meant, but have never experienced such a moment before, not in all the time I''ve been alive. Everything I experienced felt so real, but also so fast and sped up. What froze me more was the ending sensation of the memory passed onto us, one of great remorse and loss, something strong enough to bring tears to us all.


    Burst-transmissions are a rare form of telepathic memory sharing, one less known and experimental, thus seldom-experienced by anybody. The idea is a power that compresses specific memories into a brief moment of telepathic discharge, made with limited range and possibly sped up to cover more in a brief moment. Some refer to this as emergency memory transfer, as it is only ever attempted by those in fear for their life in an immediate moment. Therefore, it was only now that I started making minor sense out of the experience, two names coming to mind, Lissy and Sana.


    Two seconds later, it was the last thing I cared about, when the most shocking thing glazed our eyes. A flash of light brighter than the sun consumed the center of the world, while crackles and crumbles spread all throughout the sphere of the frozen planet. The flash was so bright that our eyes needed to adjust before making out the impossible moment before us, that the entire planet had been broken into several thousands of small burning chunks.


    The death of a million Altiri lives was instantaneous, and it took all breath and thinking power away from me. I refused to believe what happened before my eyes, my mind repeating the episode over and over hoping something alternate to reality phased back in. Instead, the broken debris of Zinod continued flying outward in all directions, leaving the soundless screams of a million souls to perish as we witnessed, helpless to stop this, to go back in time and reverse whatever happened.


    Not long after, the invisible shockwave hit all of us, knocking myself, Junko, and all of my crewmates flat on their backs, while throwing our ships into a crazy rotation lacking all gravity. At the same time, all lights inside went dark, the power storage drained of any life, and our ships now adrift. The sudden storm of death is what came for us next, as thousands of rocky chunks impacted against the ion steel hull of our disabled spacecraft, while the rest of the rain brought terror and doom down to the last remaining world below us, their personal hell brought to the surface with us.


    Even I dared to deny reality, as any would, witnessing the impossible. A planetary explosion of such size shouldn''t be possible, not in physics or anywhere else. Even one of Legasso''s experimental bombs should not carry such power, yet remaining with us was all the evidence to the contrary...


    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    In all the time we''ve been alive, our telepathic network has never been so silent as it was now; not a single person could move, speak, or think. We were instead frozen by our new fear, witnessing the impossible without any explanation for what led up to the moment. It was two long and painful minutes before any of us said anything at all, though alongside my crew, we were all a sobbing mess, my face wet inside my hands after understanding the additional implications.


    It wasn''t only a million Altiri women that suddenly perished from our world, but also, my own mother, Junko''s mother, every true adult of our unity lost all at the same time, given the certainty that they would never be coming back. "It can''t be! She can''t be gone!" I refused to believe it, yet had no way to deny this truth, and my sadness was but a droplet in the tidal wave of pain rippling throughout all of us collectively, amplifying the experience tenfold.


    "This is... This is the queen... Please, somebody tell me what happened. Please tell me that this is all some kind of trick! There''s no way Legasso would detonate a device on Zinod... He couldn''t have!" Her gratefulness could not escape our growing sadness, its all-consuming affirmation swallowing all, from here in space and from all on Karnak witnessing the hell in their sky.


    <hr>


    Chapter Theme Shift: In Emptiness ~ Raison D''¨ºtre (Forgotten Temples)</a>


    <hr>


    Our moment of silence came at last, for as long as 11 minutes straight, as we forced ourselves to say farewell to those we loved and lost. I wanted all the time in the world, and I refused to get up and move, even though the queen remained persistent in her desperation to confirm her suspicions. "Cy-Stars? Your group was closest to the blast. Are all of you okay? Did any of you see Legasso''s ship escape from the radius?"


    "Give us some time, Lady Q. I just lost my mother, and I''m not getting her back." It was Junko who replied for me, as I gave her a nod of gratitude for granting me the time I wanted to undo myself. Little did I know how some of this was also my fault. "You promised us Lumina," Junko whimpered in waterworks matching my own. The look of betrayal through her eyes jabbed my heart like a knife, intensifying the pain even more. "You promised us we would reunite with our family again."


    "I''m sorry Junko... That day was supposed to be today." I have failed, reacted too slowly to give anyone what they long deserved to have. The EMP from that bomb has disabled our ships, but clearly the damage is not extensive. Had we traveled a minute or two closer to Zinod, the explosions would have consumed us as well. If only we had landed on Zinod, in such indirect manner, we would have been reunited with them at last, but we have been denied even death''s mercy. "I''m so sorry."


    I held nothing against any who wanted to blame me for losing their chance. Junko was right after all. I shouldn''t have held my patience all these years. I should have just abandoned the military to find our people the first chance I got, but instead, I stayed in the military, lifting up all these lies about honor and hope... None other can take responsibility.


    "Everyone!"


    "Not now Derria. I don''t want to speak or think anymore."


    "But the memory!" Derria tried once more to get our attention, shifting her priority so easily. "The burst-transmission Lissy and Sana sent out... You can do as you may, but I must insist on reviewing this memory again, until I am certain. If I''m right, Legasso never made it out of that explosion."


    I wanted to ignore all of it, especially at the risk of reliving Zinod''s final moments when it was already bad enough. The curiosity about why Legasso would destroy even himself was strong, but not strong enough to pull me from emptiness. Eventually, after seventeen more minutes, I decided to replay the burst-transmission locked in my mind, for different reasons of my own, my crew on the same track.


    All of us at once decided to relive the same moment, more than once to be certain, trying all we could to slow down the speed of transpiring thoughts of the past. What we lived through was still so immersive and detailed, more than enough to overtake our minds and emotions, though nothing for any amount of time could erase the new holes in our hearts.


    Reviewing the memory, I learned more about the truth than I thought possible, about the true nature of Zinod''s destruction, but also the state the people were in prior to the moment. I had no idea how unstable the world was from the anarchy, nor did I realize how unstable the people were, locked in their own desire to kill Legasso. The most shocking aspect of this were the actions taken by Lissy and Sana, both of which learned that Legasso already planted and armed a remote detonator attached to an E-Bomb on Zinod. These two from the city of Jue played Legasso at his own game, arming an E-Bomb of their own, using the device as a last resort to prevent Legasso from escaping Zinod, probably obtained from a tiny cache he left the previous moment he smuggled them into Zinod.


    Too many unanswered questioned lingered in my mind after reviewing the memory fragment more closely. It was most difficult to swallow, because in some instance, it seemed like Legasso wasn''t the one who pulled the trigger on Zinod, and yet, Lissy was so certain he was going to detonate the bomb, after leaving the planet for his own personal safety. None of it made any sense to me, and even after, all I could think about was the destruction and disintegration my mother had gone through. Knowing with more certainty what happened didn''t make me feel any better; it seemed like nothing ever would.


    After another half-hour passed us, the rescue party was finally coming in to greet us, accompanied by our most distressed queen. "Cy-Stars? The rescue party I''ve sent to extract you all and tow in your ships should be there in a few minutes... I won''t force you to speak if you don''t want to. Just know that I''m holding an emergency meeting in the Altiri Temple, to debrief."


    Does she want to know the truth about all that happened? No alternate version of events could be as bad as this anyway. It was so hard for me to lift my own eyes, more difficult than ever to speak in my voice, worn from the same scar afflicting my mind. "My queen, I request to deliver testimony on what happened. Lissy and Sana were directly involved in this, and they sent us all burst-transmissions to explain it before Zinod¡ª" She knew enough by my words already, and I couldn''t bring myself to finish the sentence again.


    "This is news to us, Cy-Stars. We currently have no congruent reports from the other aggressor groups."


    "How are we the only ones that got the transmission then?"


    "You were closest to the planet at the time, and burst-transmissions have a limited range since they span outwards in all directions at once... Lumina, and anyone else from Cy-Stars, I request, prior to your direct verbal testimony in the temple, that you invoke memory sharing with all of us, so that we may carry this shared memory to as many Altiri as possible, until it reaches every living soul."


    "I see no problem with this." If I merely share this memory which isn''t mine to the others, perhaps I wouldn''t have to speak as much when I''m asked to deliver my own version of witnessed events. I already didn''t want to think about anything anymore, yet here I am, forced to continue, for reasons I don''t yet know anymore.


    It was a long and silent ride back to the safety of the space station. Me and my crew shared in our long sadness and our unwillingness to dare regurgitate any of our old memories, but we did what had to be done, even though our hearts fought us along the way. Eventually, we were back in the Altiri Temple, packed with thousands of people in such a tight and cramped room, all of us gathered around as much as possible to review the devastation of this very day.


    <hr>


    <Altiri Temple, Karnak, Genosis, Altiri Sector Space>


    <hr>


    Chapter Theme Shift: Clouds of Sapphire ~ Sid Acharya</a>


    <hr>


    I gave my version of events before daring to speak a single word, performing the memory sharing trick as my queen suggested I do, and waiting for it to reach everyone. Confusion, outcry, and further sadness spread through all of us like wildfire, and so I began to speak as rapidly as I could, just to put a final end to this horrible day.


    "Their bomb which they had acquired, had the same payload as the one Legasso was trying to use against Zinod; the only difference was that theirs was combined with a manual remote detonation system and an automated countdown timer. Either way, the result was all the same. Legasso fought like hell to break into the occupied hangar to get back to his own ship, killed a few of the people there, and made it inside of his cockpit. He nearly escaped the destruction zone of the planet, almost as if he knew what was about to happen. But by then, he was already too late. So, it wasn''t Legasso''s bomb that did this, but it was Sana''s bomb which destroyed Zinod." After saying as much, I stepped down from where I stood, taking my seat and leaning into Junko''s lap as she held me close.


    After a few more people spoke, the queen took her place on the podium to speak to everyone, ensuring we could all hear in her telepathic amplification. "To all the Altiri of our entire world, I offer my deepest apologies. My goal was to stop Legasso at any cost, but as queen, I have failed to save countless important lives that we all mourn for... Before I ask everyone to take their places homeward, I feel it necessary to set some records straight."


    "The disturbing facts presented from Lissy and Sana''s memory-burst suggest that Legasso may have only intended to plant a bomb on Zinod and publicly declare the threat, as a means to regain figurative control of us again. However, the scouting team I sent to raid Legasso''s quarters back on Karnak found even more disturbing evidence of even greater conspiracy. Beyond the genetic evolution research he was into, suggesting an unconfirmed though rare possibility that he may have played a role in our current inability to reproduce, we also found a much larger cache of bombs all similar in design, unarmed and inert when located."


    The shocking news the queen added on didn''t make our lives any easier, but it soon became clear why she wanted to share the extra knowledge of context. "Given all we found, we now conclude that Legasso was in fact planning to destroy Zinod, unconditionally, after leaving from the planet in his ship, as a means of torturing our resolve eternally; a threat of irreversible action to have us dissolve our military and rejoin his allegiance, and all while using the additional bombs to hold Karnak hostage second to the threat. Whether Lissy or Sana knew of this larger conspiracy is not known, nor is it relevant. Even though what they have done would normally be unforgivable, they limited the damage that this murderer would have done to us, at the cost of their own lives, and the lives of millions more."


    Even I had failed to consider this much. Legasso was planning to destroy Zinod anyway? There was really nothing we could have done to stop this in advance?


    "Whether you all view the actions of these two Altiri to be heroic or demonic, is entirely up to you, though considering the sacrifice, I must praise the outcome. Those who were on Zinod gave their lives in fighting, so that those of us left, all of us here right now and on Karnak could continue to live longer."


    I had to ask for what purpose would we continue to live longer, and even if we deserve to. I spent countless years looking for my life, for a future I could return to, born from my own past. Yet now, there is no past, its contents destroyed, erased from all access, leaving me here in this shattered existence shared with others bleeding in the same pain.


    "As such, it is overwhelmingly clear that Legasso has too much to answer for. It saddens and angers myself that he was able to evade our wrath and torture. Legasso wanted only to control us, no matter how many of us he needed to kill. His genetic difference between all of us shall forever be noted and recorded. Legasso, including any possible descendant or similar species to him, will be marked as the number one enemy of The Unity."


    "What are we all supposed to do now, my great queen?" asked a random woman of the crowd.


    "We must make great strides to better ourselves as people, to recover and rebuild what we have lost where possible, to remember this tragedy with all effort and ensure it never happens again, and to find meaning in the continued existence of our lives... I must admit, even I am having trouble with that right now... From this moment onward, I hereby bring ending to my executive order regarding the orbital defense fleet and the draft related to it. Residing in the Altiri Military and out here in space will still be possible, but the decision whether to stay here or to return home is now voluntary."


    As happy as it may have made some people, I wondered how she could pose such choice and make it sound so easy. Not long ago, I would have been overjoyed to hear that I could finally leave the military I was forced into... But after all this time, after getting used to it, after training for forty years with the same people and the same faces, how could I ever leave them? What purpose could it possibly serve me to return to Karnak, a world offering nothing more to me than silent echoes of sadness? Even with all tension removed from our galaxy, I no longer have a family to return to, nor a place where any would see me smile ever again. In fact, I didn''t personally know anybody back on Karnak well enough to recall their names or faces, and somehow my crew were of the same mind. Somehow, they became the closest thing I had to family than anyone else in this entire world. If ever I do return to Karnak, I don''t think I can do it without them. Still do I worry if they will want to stay with me.


    "Through all of this, our people functioned far better than ever before, our minds fully awake in this unity that brought us all together. So, it is in my interest to keep The Unity alive and functioning, to set us as a final guardian of our remaining world. However, where I have gained experience being ruler of The Unity, I am certain I lack trust, especially now. We should all have the right and free-will to choose who will lead us into the future, a future where we one day recover from this madness, a future where we may one day avert our eventual extinction. In 28 cycles from now, I will host a voting event on whether a majority of people want to keep me running the temple, or whether to have me step down in place of another. Additionally, after we finish documenting evidence, we will be dismantling the old Empyrean Temple for parts, removing any trace our enemy may have left behind."


    "What about the remaining bombs? We can''t just have those around. It''s dangerous!"


    "Pause your concern. I have already decided to have a team study some components before jettisoning the devices directly towards the star. The radiant heat of our blue sun will safely consume the danger."


    It seems the queen is trying to play cleanup with this impossible mess, though I was happy to hear she was allowing the people to choose whether she stays in power or not; it''s evidence from the start that Lady Q never intended to fight Legasso merely out of jealousy to take the same position. Somehow, she saw the kind of person Legasso was from the very beginning, countless years backwards, and pressured him to change before things got this bad...


    Still, no matter what I think, no matter what I choose to do now, nothing in the universe will ever bring my folks back to me. Everyone knows this already, including the queen. No matter how The Unity tries to recover, no matter how many peaceful days we thus endure, this emptiness in all of us will remain for eternity, with every heartbeat, with every breath. I may live for thousands of years only to never recover, and it would never once surprise me. Regardless of how I choose to endure the rest of my time, I won''t be living anymore; I''ll only be waiting to die with the rest of us, my crew sharing all the same sentiment and the same fate, mirroring our downfall like sisters.


    ...


    Days later, as if the fate of all existence were to kick us while we were down, one more tragedy struck us all like a disease. Though it didn''t affect every single Altiri, an overwhelming majority of us suddenly suffered some kind of targeted memory loss. Our old memories, most specific to the identity and facial memory of our mothers all but disappeared, or became too corrupted to make any sense of, while the memories of everything else seemed to intensify. Before I could call myself a monster for what happened, I had to watch the same horror echo out from countless other around me, even from my sisters in the Cy-Stars.


    Nobody knew why this happened to us; nobody could provide any likely explanation of why or how our memories of the same subject matter became so easily corrupted and overly vague. It was never clear if this shared memory loss was a symptom of the stress we all suffered that day, or if it had something to do with the possible and unknown risks of the mass memory sharing we invoked. There is an unspoken risk of memory sharing, one I faintly recall my mother once taught me. By sharing memory with another who isn''t ready, there poses minor risk that the influx of new memories can override part of the old memories, causing an unwanted overlap between the two, melting two realities together when they shouldn''t. I didn''t learn of this until so long later though, and instead, blamed myself entirely for the egregious carelessness of my own mind. By failing to recall a single thing about my mom, it was as if I had somehow killed her all over again, her very existence more in question than it ever was before.


    This is our dark past we all share, the dark history of the Altiri, in all its horrible aspects. When the sadness we wanted to suffocate in became too weak to shield us from the pain, we replaced that emotion with something even stronger; undeniable hatred for Legasso and any single element of or about him, about heathens or influence of a heathen to The Unity. Those of us who remained in the military went back into training, using our skills as a means of psychological stress release, as we would replace a target dummy with Legasso in our minds, allowing our rage to consume us to dangerous measures, and so our wrath, our fury, and our hatred lived on, for as long as we could recall the Fall of Zinod.


    <hr>


    <11/10/149,566 {Avion 148} - 19:01 | Corral Position, Genosis, Altiri Sector Space>


    <Karnak to ACS414 Date Equivalent: 11/10/2010>


    <hr>


    "I''m so sorry Lumina... I can''t even imagine what that must have felt like... Though, I get it at least. There isn''t a doubt in my mind why you hate heathens so much. Whether it''s right or wrong to - isn''t even a concern right now."


    Hearing any part of Reed''s voice made me more comfortable. Even though I spent so much of my time locked deep into the past, I knew I couldn''t always keep myself there. How many times have I been led to ruin by pretending I could get all that time back? "You don''t have to be sorry for me, but thank you."


    "Those memories you showed to me the other day, about all that you saw happening on Earth, it also reminded me what my montrum was all about, how I would become entranced at the sight of anything the same color as the blue tracing your skin, or how I would lose myself in the arctic world at mere brushing of the morning''s cold air. But in all of this, I didn''t consider how frustrating it must feel to want one memory over another, yet be denied that memory."


    "It''s as if it''s always there in hiding, dangling over my head like some cruel joke. I faintly recall how much she meant to me, how much I missed her those days after she was taken from me, but ever since the Fall of Zinod, I could never get her name or her face back to me; it''s the most unfair thing in the world." Can he imagine it? Can Reed ever know what it''s like to permanently lose the most precious memory, to never get it back no matter how hard the struggle? I wouldn''t want him to endure that kind of pain, but at the very least, I needed to ensure he understood why our unity will never let go of our hatred. I foolishly believed all men were no exception to the definition of heathenism, but thanks to today, I''ve learned that there lies hope in some people after all, within us and within other civilizations.


    "Legasso was evil; there''s no denying that. I don''t mind anymore if you have to let out that anger either. Heck, I''m still upset just hearing about it... But Lumina, you know feeling that way won''t bring any of it back, right?"


    "You really thought I didn''t realize this already?"


    "No, I mean... As vengeful as we are, I can''t help but wonder if it''s better to try making happier moments happen; not to forget all about the past, but to merely add to our lives what we have been denied for so long."


    "Hm..." At first, I didn''t understand the meaning of what he said. I then jumped to the conclusion he meant by replacing a bad experience with a good one, but even that doesn''t match up with how he feels in relation to this moment... No, Reed accepts what happened to all of us, carrying the burden of that weight while moving forward and trying to feel better, all at the same time.


    Now that I think about it, most of us in The Unity have done the very same thing, often without ever realizing it. I can''t say that I have forgiven the evil that took my mother away from me, but I also cannot deny that some part of me has already moved on, moved past that horrible point in time. For had I remained as damaged and broken as I was before, I wouldn''t even be here right now...


    Without being loud, I let myself gasp at the sudden revelation, something I nearly forgotten about, something Reed''s personal sentiment reminded me of, in my own point of absolute weakness and self-destruction. All of my sisters were there for me, refusing to allow me to throw my life away when all I wanted to do was give up, and Hurma especially reminded me that while I may have lost family, I also gained additional family. She wanted me to live, to become part of the future together, a future where none of us knew the destination or the outcome, in itself a risk. Here I am now, with my family, plus a new friend, someone who is also here for me now, comforting my every word in ways I never would have expected...


    Reed; do you see all of that? Do you look at me and immediately understand where I could end up if I hold onto the smallest glimmer of hope? I wasn''t entirely given the choice on whether to keep going or not; and even if I was, I had people here to hold my hand.


    But Reed has had nobody in his life before me, nor has he been through the same intensity of turmoil. Yet somehow, he understands just as well as I do - some of the same virtues it took us thousands of years to learn. That intelligence I sensed in him earlier, the insightfulness I could see reflected from his own two eyes ~ this is the very nature of which I spoke of, laid out from the reaches of his personal mindscape.


    "I can''t be certain if what I''m doing is right or wrong anymore Lumina. So instead, I''m just gonna keep playing things by ear, make decisions only when I know I need to. I''ve been doing that since we met, but I''m only realizing it just now, after realizing how much I''ve misjudged you personally."


    "You know something Reed? Sometimes, you say the most interesting things. It''s as if you can learn things from other people without being in the same room as them."


    "Think you can clarify what you mean there?"


    "No need. You don''t need to worry about why or how just yet. Just know that, I already feel so much better, after talking about this again with you." I knew it was true, certain that this boy can understand so much more about us if only given the time and the chance... Now I don''t want to disconnect from him at all, not even for a nanosecond!


    "Whatever. As long as I''ve made somebody else feel better, then I''d say it''s a good moment."


    "You like making people feel better, don''t you?" My question was mostly meant to tease him about it, but Reed addressed this admission personally.


    "I don''t understand the reason why, but you''re right; I do get a nice feeling from it. Whether I''ve made a clown enough of myself to make someone in class laugh, or whether I''ve made you feel happier, I don''t know why, but I feel better when I know I''ve made someone else feel better."


    Sweet as that is, I doubt he could have that same effect on my sisters as he is now... Though, maybe I should learn to chance it. "It''s because you''re a nice person, someone sweet and selfless. I may not have learned everything about you yet, but I know you this much at least."


    "If you say so... Try calling me any of that cringe crap my mother tries on me, and I''m dropping the connection right then and there."


    "Noted." On top of how amazing he is, Reed resists any positive praise to himself, all to avoid the risk of becoming arrogant or selfish. I can''t think of a quality more worthy than his, and so, as to not spoil this mixed mood, I won''t annoy him on the matter. "Want to go outside and stare at nature again?"


    "You act like that''s just something I do for no reason."


    "I''m taking that as a yes." I know already that Reed loves nature, though the latent effects of the purge have only amplified this sensation within him, a sensation of infinite wonder with nature or imagination as the backdrop. He has been this way from the beginning, and is even more so now. I can''t stop wondering, what kind of world does Reed see when he stares into the sky now? What alternate reality does he imagine or daydream of when the fate of it stares him in the pupils? Right now, it''s one of the many things I would love to sense with him. Instead, I too shall be left in my own wonder and question, for a person''s mind is its own alternate universe.

 Chapter 036: Montrums of Winter

    <hr>


    <11/13/149,566 {Avion 148} - 17:50 | Corral Position, Genosis, Altiri Sector Space>


    <Karnak to ACS414 Date Equivalent: 11/13/2010>


    <Telepathic Link: Established | Telepathic Strength: Advanced ~ {37<sup>o</sup>N}>


    In the very short time I''ve used to absorb more about our connections, much had been learned, and much more stayed mysterious. In our strong telepathic connections between Reed and I, it was difficult to hide our building emotions from each other on most days, but on other days, Reed seemed like a different person to me than he did before.


    Take now for instance. As much fun as I was having talking to Reed again after a brief intermission, I could tell far too much was on his mind for his behavior to default to what I have become accustomed too. The strangest aspect is that he actually realizes this difference just as I do. "That''s what I''m saying," he replied, enchanted by the mysterious imagination plugging his first-senses. "I want to be locked in this cold forever, in a world where it''s always snowing, always falling us a blizzard, of ice and snow. I can''t explain why I love it so much; it doesn''t make total sense, but it''s all I can think about lately. The very idea of the cold is, well... It''s overpowering to say the least."


    "The cold is beautiful yes. Just keep in mind that humans can''t survive if they lose too much heat at once."


    "I''m wearing a heavy jacket aren''t I?"


    Cute as his remark was, I wasn''t concerned about this factor in the first place, not with what I could clearly realize. His tone of voice when he thinks about the element of sub-zero environments, to a point where wonder and curiosity is the only detectable thought of his mind is evidence of the montrum that still lingers.


    Not that long ago, I would have been thrilled beyond everything to know that the montrum of a purge already passed lingers on to influence my Reed. However, as I''ve thought long enough in my nights of silence to remember some moments of the past, I''ve also remembered that the effects of a montrum on any human could potentially be more curse than blessing. For one, it isn''t natural. Reed is in love with anything that reminds him of the cold, his imagination defaulting to the visuals of our frozen world he managed to recall just days back, near the same time I shared some of my memory with him. Uncertain what triggered this, all I could do was return his wonder with wonder of my own, confused, conflicted with concern and excitement. "I''m glad you''re feeling better from this, but, I still want to be sure you are okay with all of this." When montrum happens naturally within someone, it isn''t special; barely a blip on the mind. However, when a montrum forced from a purge springs up, the effects are amplified a hundred fold. Any influence brought on by it overrides just about anything else. So now, I worry how wrong this is, if Reed is only being forced to enjoy his secret new life, forced into a state of mind by something outside of his control.


    I didn''t tell him this though, for I''ve been too caught up in spending helpful time with him. Reed has contacted me as often as possible ever since his montrum of winter has returned, so my own concerns are shadowed by my own selfish needs. Even so, he wasn''t as clueless as we first thought.


    "It''s the craziest thing Lumina. This montrum is still so powerful on me, even after the purge has finished the job. It''s still a little different from before. I''m far more obsessed about the cold and visuals of your world than I am about the stars in the cosmic skies."


    "I''m sorry about this Reed. Sometimes the effects of latent montrums take a long time to dial down."


    "What are you apologizing for? I couldn''t be more satisfied with the situation."


    "Wait, seriously?"


    "For real," he whispered, falling in love with the potent mix of sensation deep within heart. "There''s so much that I don''t know or understand, but this feeling, it''s absolutely incredible! I nearly forgot how amazing it was during the purge. It''s as if all my entire brain is constantly busy trying to unravel the mystery of the universe all without me having to even try to invoke this curiosity."


    "So you''re saying, you like the feeling of this montrum?" Even if he was satisfied, I remained skeptical that this was a good thing. I only recently recalled just how addicting the sensation of a montrum can be. I didn''t bother telling him about such an addiction, but I could clearly see he was being affected by this. What baffles me though is that he likes it, something which can seldom be said for the other purged humans of the past.


    "It''s hard to explain, but it reminds me that I''m alive! I used to feel like something inside me was always missing, like I was left without some universal truth of concept required to go on. But now, even with everything so undefined, it feels like I''ve become part of some alternate world, a world so amazing because there are all these cool things in it."


    <hr>


    Chapter Theme Shift: Polaris ~ Unusual Cosmic Process (Spacetime)</a>


    <hr>


    "So you like the feeling of being alive." I wasn''t sure what he meant just yet. The only thing I was certain of was his positive addiction to the montrum. For better or worse, I cannot undo this. Most people are too enumerated by the data overflow from a purge or its montrums to even speak out loud, encumbered by the intense load on the mind, left exhausted. Reed is something else though; this encumberment seems to accelerate his own response to such stimulus; he comes more alive than ever before, totally undisturbed by this burden of thought.


    "You know full well that I do. I love it when my mind has something to latch onto, something to think about, something to absorb. It''s as if every tiny little thing about the world suddenly has more detail and value than it ever did before, and I nearly missed all of it. I was getting worried about being bored again the other day, but this montrum takes care of it, for the moment at least. It is in effect, its own form of heavy stimulus."


    "Stimulus..." The way he described it brought me back to what happened to Reed only two days ago. It only makes sense that he would embrace any stimulus he gets, since he suffers from a soft kind of under-stimulation of the mind. For him, it is all necessary. So then, is the montrum an ally or an enemy in this situation? "Let me ask you something. Please don''t get mad at me for repeating the question..." I have to know, to be assured that what Reed told me the other day wasn''t just a fluke of words in the chill of the moment. "Where are you in all of this? I know you said that you''ve started to believe in our existence, but somehow I''m not sure. I defiantly don''t want you to make that statement only as a result of some montrum."


    "What do you think I am Lumina? Some mindless drone?"


    "Eh¡ª" Uncertain how to respond to that, I waited for him to clear this up.


    "Look. I know that I have far too many thoughts at once to handle sometimes, and I also know that this montrum, amazing as it feels, isn''t about to define who I really am. It doesn''t control me that much. When I said that I was starting to believe in your existence, you and that of the entire Altiri race, well, even though I''m still not completely sure, I mean what I say."


    Incredible as always... I heard the stories of the past, where some people could never fight for control over the montrum, due to be being overwhelming. Maybe Reed is only lucky in this case, or maybe his brain can handle far more than what should be normal for a human. Sure would explain the hell out of what happened to him days back.


    "It''s hard for me to make any certainty of affirmation in my own mind, no matter how much I want to, because after everything, I don''t have any concrete proof or evidence that the Altiri are real... But Lumina, there''s just something about you that doesn''t fall in line with a hallucination or an alternate personality. Is it possible that I invented you just to fill the emptiness of my social life? Maybe, but then it wouldn''t explain how I am able to learn so much about both worlds when it comes to things I shouldn''t possibly know, like yesterday when you told me the time of the night in exact synchronization to our area clock, down to the last minute without me cheating a glance first."


    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    "I''m sure in time, I will be able to give you more proof, maybe..."


    "You don''t sound too sure, but the one thing doing it for me is you. Call me crazy all you want, but everything about you is too dynamic to be coincidence. On top of that, the life you lived all these countless years..."


    "Wh¡ª You mean, what I showed you in the memory share? That only covers bits and pieces of what I observed on Earth using clairvoyance, and only the negative stuff at that."


    "No Lumina. There was more. I don''t know if you made a mistake, but for just a split second, I caught a glimpse of other moments in your life, about Karnak, about Zinod, about your sisters and your friends... I can''t make anything of it since it was too fast for detail, but what it revealed to me is that you weren''t lying about how long you have lived... Countless thousands of years, and yet you never age, not physically at least."


    "You saw all of that?" He couldn''t have seen all of my life. I''m sure I didn''t mess up what I wanted to show him, to reveal to him the missing pieces of our proof that heathens are evil.


    "No," he repeated somewhat annoyed. "I mean, I only felt it, so I don''t know anything about it beyond the context of how much there is, how much you have not yet told me, how much infinite information there is you could give to me, in theory. Alternate personalities don''t work like that; the human brain and its imagination has limits, I think." Even though he couldn''t sound too sure of himself, the context of his words kept me locked into this interesting discussion between us, between imagination and reality, montrum and affirmation, happy and unhappy.


    "Strange... You never mentioned it before when it happened... What if it''s only the montrum tricking you to think that though? With the purge now done with, any montrum you have isn''t going to be controlled by the living signal or by anyone other than yourself. I just want you to be careful that you don''t confuse reality with fiction."


    "That is some irony you have there Lumina..." Reed trailed off into thought, allowing me to understand what he meant. I still know he gets the difference, that a montrum at its most potent peak does have the power to confuse a human on what is real and what is fake, the false reality coming from instigated details of the overactive imagination during the push from that montrum. It has happened before, during that purge with ''Two-Week Girl.'' "You really don''t see any possibility of yourself being fake... I suppose that''s because you have millions of other Altiri in your world to confirm you are not insane, so then the relative focus on that must instead shift to my own self."


    "How many times must you fight yourself on the matter of your own sanity Reed? It''s okay with us if you cannot be certain, even if I want nothing more than for you to believe we exist. Whether you believe or not will not make you any less sane."


    "That''s only your perspective though... But you might have a point. Thinking myself to death over it isn''t really going to give either of us any answer, now is it?"


    "You always were hard on yourself, but it''s amazing to see you are more critical than I thought."


    "You''re the one who keeps going on and on about me being special compared to the average human."


    If only he would realize that he is. I don''t know what makes Reed''s sensory input so intense and strong compared to average. Even without a very high natural psionic aptitude, he can sense more about the world around him than others care to, either because he was born with extra senses, or because he''s the only one I''ve seen who cares enough to make use of all of them. That''s where he gets his own intelligence from, not by being smart, but instead by relying on as much sensory input as possible, followed by several simultaneous parallel thought processes of analysis. "One of these days, you will see what I mean."


    "Part of me wants to be right, that you and the Altiri really are real. I panicked earlier this morning when I suspected that the montrum was making me feel that way, that it was forcing or influencing me to feel more positive about the Altiri."


    "It might. The purge was designed with that in mind."


    "Yeah, but you just told me the purge is not active anymore, and so whatever comes of the current montrum is only coming from within, which means if I feel like I want it all to be true, then it''s actually how I feel deep down. I wasn''t sure at first of the reason; actually I''m still not certain. All my life I''ve wanted all kinds of amazing friends, and was never really given a fair chance at that. Then, one day, your psionic signal falls down from the sky, shocking me awake on what should have been an ordinary morning. You''ve been trying to get me to believe in your existence ever since, but you''ve cared even more in priority to keep me company, to be here for me even knowing you can''t prove your own existence."


    "That''s..." Too bashful to explain why, I tried to look away, letting him do all the talking he wanted to. All of it was true; that reprioritizing how I spend my time with him was how I wanted do continue our connection, but I never thought he would see that.


    "Maybe I still don''t know the reasons yet, but maybe I don''t need to know of them either. The point is, you want to be one of my friends, and so far you''ve been nothing but supportive. I have no reason to slap your hand away from me, especially when no other human on this rock is lining up to show a care in the world for my daily life."


    Something about his continued words calmed me down momentarily, so I let out a soft and silent sigh of relief. "I think what you''re trying to say, is that you wish to return the favor, of your own volition, and not from that of a montrum."


    "Yeah, that''s exactly right. I knew you would understand it quickly. You really are smart, aren''t you?"


    "I have more experience in some areas than you do."


    "And yet you dove in headfirst to purge me, something you have never done before. I guess in some ways, you like to live life on the edge too."


    "I''m not even sure what you mean." I never told him how much trouble we were in for purging him, and I still didn''t intend to. Even so, he isn''t wrong about the risk, or on the haste to take such a risk.


    "How to explain? It''s all new stuff to us both, and so it is more exciting. Exciting doesn''t always mean something good or bad, but in our case, it''s as if we''ve both been asleep for so long, and have finally awakened to an alertness, a higher consciousness most need to be pushed into."


    He feels that way too? Maybe it isn''t just me after all. I can''t even remember most of the random countless days me and my sisters spent when we never got anything done on our spaceships, those uneventful days where nothing ever happens and the world never changes, sleepwalking through our days as if on autopilot. Then, when something changes, I feel so different, like I have become my full self again. I''m betting Reed goes through the same sensation sometimes. "Well, I didn''t do all of this simply because I was bored or sleepwalking."


    "I figured that much... Look Lumina. Talking with you even after learning so much is very interesting, just as much as it is fun. The reason I get so excited when I keep thinking about blizzards and darkening snow storms, isn''t just because the montrum is making it that way... I think I like the idea of it all, because under our circumstances, the cold reminds me so much of you."


    "Oh!" I covered my mouth in letting my reaction slip out. "I mean, that''s cool too. It makes sense, as we are designed to thrive in those environments." I''m so glad my sisters are not right behind me right now to make fun of me. Why is it so embarrassing to hear him say that?


    "The stars in the sky do the same thing for me, but not as much as that fresh and amazing sensation of the cold. Plus, I kind of need that cold air to start a new connection and talk to you."


    "I''m just glad you gave us a second chance Reed. Even as we speak, you still have the option, the choice of throwing this away forever, but I''m happy you''re letting me be your friend."


    "So you''re a space alien, so what? Actually, I can''t lie; that is still really freaking cool. I wish I could show you off to all the people at school, if only to prove to them that I''m not some chump."


    "Pft! Haha! I don''t know if they would have the reaction you think they would." His joke was already the highlight of my night, but it did get me to daydream of the moment unfolding as it were. Some of the crazy humans in that school deserve the mental shock, if you ask me.


    "Glad to know we''re on the same page too... Just, bear with me Lumina."


    "Hm? What for? I''m having a great time with you right now."


    "I think I''m safe for today... but after what happened two days ago, I fear I might be in for another UAD attack soon."


    "Come on Reed. I already know that it isn''t the real you when one of those attacks goes off."


    "I know... But still, I''m starting to faintly remember some parts of it when it does happen. Such violent rage, such pure aggression, as if I''m a raved animal! That can''t be natural, and it seems to be happening from boredom, more specifically mental stimulus deficiency."


    "I know Reed... I''m here for you no matter what though. I''ll be cheering for you to find a solution to it."


    Two days ago from now, Reed suffered from some psychological attack of some kind during his gym class. At first, I thought the symptoms were entirely physical, but after learning more, I realized it was a problem with the way his mind works. I''ve never seen anything like it in anybody before. It strangely feels like it has something to do with how his mind works, how much he craves mental stimulation of any variety, how much his brain needs to be in its excited state during the peak hours of the day, and even how he has a separate condition called Attention Deficit Disorder. It''s similar to ADHD, but all internalized into the mind, much less the body. The result for Reed, is a constant chaotic storm of simultaneous parallel thought processes, half of them conscious and half of them subconscious.


    He told me already that his mind is like a mental maze of thought, and that he has close to 100 thoughts per second when he is at his most awake moment, at least 50 thoughts per second on average. I can think fast too, but that much is beyond even myself... It''s not that Reed thinks at warp speed though, it more like he can use all of those simultaneous thought processes to filter tremendous levels of information so smoothly. What would overload the mind of an ordinary person would only give Reed a slight buzz, a sensation he has grown to like.


    All of this insight has let me realize why and how Reed had such an easy time absorbing all we tried to teach him in our earliest connections. It''s also the reason he gets bored so easily I think. I''ve seen him become bored before however, and the result was never a UAD attack... But I guess things change sometimes. Maybe my purge was the very thing that started the process, but it isn''t easy to prove or disprove.


    I don''t know if Reed is going to continue suffering from more UAD attacks like before. The very first one gave me one hell of a scare. All I can do is try to run it by my sisters and see if they know more about it, which I doubt they will. I''m not thrilled to go with plan B should I need to; asking the Royal Scryers for help on the matter, in the rare event that this UAD business is not as unique to Reed as I''m thinking it is. For now at least, it seems Reed has the idea that too little mental activity will trigger a UAD response, so at lest he has something to work with in this new mystery.


    "Thanks Lumina. There isn''t too much need to worry. I''ll figure something out soon."


    "Let''s hope so. Let me know if you want to talk about anything else too, to keep your mind busy."


    "Let''s not get too carried away Lumina. If I get that bored, I''ll play that one game I love so much. Freelancer and Star Fury is what it was, a game where I can move across all the stars and cosmic space all I want. If only I had my own space ship."


    "Sorry Reed. We don''t deliver those. All we can offer is your telepathic power." Even with just this telepathic power, I knew full well it was enough for us both. Of all the superpowers humans dream of having, telepathy is the most amazing one to me, because it gives us the chance to communicate and befriend people we would normally never-ever reach, bringing their entire existence into our stream of consciousness.

 Chapter 037: Prison Planet

    <hr>


    <04/15/149,540 {Avion 148} - 14:00 | Corral Position, Genosis, Altiri Sector Space>


    <Karnak to ACS414 Date Equivalent: 04/15/1984>


    In every corner of the world we search, we find souls who live human lives on unequal footing. Man''s many potent quotes and beliefs encapsulate the idea of: ''Everyone is born equal,'' but when faced with the challenge in mass, humanity proves it can never uphold this singular promise, even under the guidance of God.


    No matter where on Earth, almost every human lives in a perpetual state of individualism, rarely if ever unified by a powerful front sharing the same ideal. Being independent from others is only one small element of freedom, but the hands of control reach for all, far and wide, through money or through political authority, and so, independence does not guarantee anyone their freedom or their equality. Do the laws of society protect the people, or do the people protect the laws of society? The longer I sit here watching the Earth from afar, the more questions I have to crux the human race with.


    We Altiri have seen and documented so much in our countless hours of clairvoyance, some lives easier to track than others. What we''ve learned in all this time, are that some humans are truly evil beyond measure, and some are kind-hearted all to the end of their deathbed. Group psychology has a mind of its own too however; the evidence laying within predisposed hatred or preprogrammed designations of unequal classes or castes. The United States of America, while not an exclusive center of attention for our kind, has become the most interesting place of our observations, for two reasons.


    The first reason is America''s constant claim of upholding the title of the freest continent on the planet, through social promise and propaganda, or through religious Dogma, the only nation under God as some claim, ever since their independence from Great Britain in 1776. For a very long time at least, the truth of this claim seemed to depend widely on individual perception and based point of view. It was an easy statement to agree with, for those who had the chance to make comparisons of different economic and government-level social classes of other nations, keeping China and North Korea in mind for example. The statement falls apart without this comparison, and even with it, won''t always hold significance. Claiming one nation is the freest in the world does not guarantee it is anywhere near a paradise. If all the world were merely districts of prisons, and one particular prison had more leniency than the rest, is it still a prison, or a free nation?


    The other interest we have in the USA is the primary spoken language, the most similar variant of our own tongue, slowly and luckily spread throughout humanity from a wide variety of our many purge experiments. With our advanced clairvoyance, we can see and hear the people we zoom in on, carefully watching them grow up, day by day. Therefore, it is very easy for us Altiri to collect a grasp on any situation within their borders.


    Going back to an earlier point, equality and freedom is only granted by what others in the same society will tolerate, exception to those who live alone and off the grid. A well-known example can be stated very recently from this time period, where a civil-rights movement spread across the globe, but especially within the walls of the United States. While perfection to such progress has never been realized, more freedom and equality has been given to the dark-skinned humans than what was previously seen in that country, as a result of many late activists and societal shifts.


    Inequality, slavery, torture, even brutal murder was tolerated of this minority class for so long a time, equality still struggling to catch up. During the worst of the fires and ashes of America''s darkest history, plenty still claimed it was the freest nation in the world, a place of expression, safe from any persecution, unless the law, created by the same imposers of false justice claimed otherwise.


    The point of this cluster of thought I have is merely a realization made many times in our recollection, one which proves that all humans are not born equal in their own planetary world, a declaration not made by myself of philosophy, rather by other hostile members of a larger collection of society, split between the feeling in their hearts from the programming of their mind. The racial segregation and inequity between blacks and whites was only one example. And so, as I recall a horrific chain of events on another amazing soul I kept track of, I refute one claim to our collective minds; I refute the claim that true freedom exists within America, or anywhere else in the world for that matter, and I have the feeling certain humans on their world would certainly agree.


    <hr>


    "I knew you''d show up to return it," Hannah exclaimed in front of the two, her eyes full of life and her body pulsing with excitement.


    "I''m only here for a short time." Ramie, Hannah''s friend who returned a mysterious cassette tape turned to Hannah''s father, who stood in the doorway looking bored. Her nod was enough to signal her dad to give them some space, as the older man went down the stairs of Hannah''s house, for chit chat or minor refreshments.


    Twelve silent seconds after the two girls were finally alone, Ramie gently slid her way to the door, closing and locking the handle while her back was faced against the wooden barrier. With the soft sound of the click in the lock, Hannah''s eyes went wide, and Ramie''s heart began beating even faster knowing what she was about to do.


    With a blushing giggle, Hannah held onto ramie''s hips, excited by the woman before her. "We both have school tomorrow, and you just couldn''t wait to see me anyway. I''m touched."


    "You know as well as I do that trying this at our boarding school is very risky." Ramie elaborated what she meant, needing no reason or invitation to hold Hannah close in her arms, eyes mostly shut while sucking her friend''s face.


    Sharing Ramie''s breath in her lungs, Hannah held her friend closer, her body heating up in this sacred embrace through their passionate kiss; their rapid pulse synchronized, and their desire melted into each other. In the safety of privacy, shielded away from the eyes of Hannah''s parents, she revealed every repressed sensation to Ramie, for as long as they could possibly get away with.


    "Those two again huh?" The front-row seat I had been watching was mildly interrupted by the voice of Fionne, speaking only to me with her telepathy. While there was good enough reason for my interest in this odd couple I''ve been monitoring on Earth, I suspect most of my sisters wanted more clarification.


    "Yes Fionne. I have high hopes that Ramie and Hannah can be happy together, but there are lots of invisible barriers around them that could destroy what relationship they do have."


    "Ramie and Hannah are both girls, so I presume those barriers you speak of have more to do any attempt made to separate them?" Though Rose asked a legitimate question, I was a bit shocked she would ask at all, the answer obvious.


    "Same-sex couples on Earth are not well-liked. Ramie and Hannah, they''re both such nice people. They shouldn''t be under the threat of punishment just because they refuse to fall in love with other heathens."


    As for myself, I have seen this many times before. Long ago, The Unity learned about the sexual natures of human beings, and the certainty where intercourse between a male and female human are required for female pregnancy, without exception. With this rule also comes a natural, hormonal kind of attraction between men and woman of ACS414, attraction which exists in several complex layers of consciousness. One might say this behavior is preferential or normal - merely because it is within that species biological programming.


    That said, there have always been exceptions to these influences of biological programming, exceptions known to humans with diverse nomenclature are with assumed rarity. Around Ramie''s area of residence, people currently refer to a couple in her homosexual situation as, Lesbians, two females attracted only to each other or to other females, with zero attraction whatsoever to males, physically, psychologically, and perhaps spiritually too. Over a longer span of time, such behavior has only become more common than it has less, but in this current ACS year of 1984, such practices are forbidden.


    Their erotic display doesn''t surprise me at all. All of us Cy-Stars and I included are like most other Altiri of our world, romantically disinterested in any and all sides of other people. Even after all this time of observing human behavior, I''ve yet to feel a micron of love or attraction to a single man of the universe. It''s something I can be proud of to date; never would I allow myself to fall for a filthy heathen, an enemy of our world.


    That said, I also don''t really understand love in this format, because I''ve never felt that kind of spark with anyone else. I know it isn''t the same feeling I used to have for my mother, nor is it anywhere close to how I feel for my sisters. The topic in our world has been debated to death already, and rumor has it that while rare, there are a small amount of Altiri couples who are attracted to each other in this strange unknown manner. Since all of us are female, any Altiri who falls for another would automatically be considered a homosexual, though I reckon nobody at all would complain.


    Here in our world, even among a queen who controls us, we have far more personal freedom than what most humans may ever see in their entire lifetime. As for my personal thoughts on homosexual couples in general, through all the flak of hate I have heard about, I don''t really see the harm and damage from those who wish to counter it. All of this is the reason why, right now, while observing these two young ladies defy so much of the invisible restriction placed upon them unfairly, a bigger part of me is hoping for their shared happiness. Ramie and Hannah, both of which live private lives, have fallen madly in love with each other. Both of these women are white and come from a moderate-economic family, so most would expect Ramie and Hannah to have an ultimate level of freedom...


    But I knew, I could feel in my gut long before the worst could come, that regardless of justice and law, any who fall too far from an established societal norm will face intolerance on levels that would make me cry, no matter how many times I see it.


    This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Following in my own interests, my sisters focused on the same two people as I did, and we tracked these two for a short while, only two months later to be precise, when everything started to fall apart for both of these fated lovers. Two months was all it took for everything to capsize.


    <hr>


    "The headmaster is right! You should be ashamed of yourself! Have you forgotten your vows to God?!" Ramie''s father wouldn''t let up after several minutes of this vocal bombardment to his daughter, red-faced and in tears. Everything fell apart so quickly, when Ramie and Hannah eventually dared to risk their display of affections on school grounds, as they were caught kissing by the school''s own headmaster.


    Through all her sniffling, Ramie put on a brave defiance against her parents, only following the path she knew in her heart. "I love Hannah! Why would God ever have a problem with us, Dad?" With no support from her mother, Ramie was only digging herself a larger hole. She also knew that somewhere far off from here, Hannah was being scolded in much the same way by her own folks, paying a price for love nobody should ever have to.


    Her father only became more invigorated by Ramie''s words, and so he finally made a judgment call on what punishment his daughter must face. "I''ve heard enough Ramie. Tomorrow, we have an emergency meeting at the church. I''m notifying the pastor and clergymen of this incident now. You know better than to defy the natural order of ourselves through such sin. And it goes without saying, that you and Hannah will never be seeing each other again."


    "But you can''t just do that! She''ll be heartbroken, more than I am now!" No matter what Ramie tried, her dad wasn''t having any of it, and so she shot a desperate glance with plea to her mother, who was already glaring with a menacing look of betrayal. "Tell him that''s going too far mom!"


    "Do you want to go to heaven Ramie, or to hell where all sinners burn for eternity?"


    Strapped with the unfair question, Ramie gave up her attempts of persuasion, instead returning her gaze to the floor with tears and pain worse than before, worse, because her despair was now combined with the worry of how Hannah was doing in all this chaos and flak.


    <hr>


    Chapter Theme Shift: Valley of the Ravens ~ VPG (Wind of Spring)</a>


    <hr>


    "Do they really care about their worship more than their own daughter?" Even though Derria was as upset as I, watching the chaos unfold before us in real time, I understood a small aspect of another hypocritical behavior.


    No matter what any may say about a book of scripture, it is ultimately up to the people who read and interpret that scripture to determine which virtue to uphold and in what manner. Such holy text forbids any and all sexual acts, lust, or desired attraction, that does not lead to any procreation post-marriage. The implications are many, but for anyone who has an attraction to the same sexual orientation, they are, according to the scriptures, sinners of God. Strangely enough, this would include other areas of effect on every creature of the Earth, including self-gratification, which both parents on both sides of Hannah''s and Ramie''s have conducted themselves in, before marriage of their own time.


    Does that really matter though? Whether armed with more knowledge of some holy text or not, not everybody is going to believe or accept such ideals. Ramie and Hannah only attend the church because they are forced to, slaves to their parent''s by means of biological age, as many kids and teenagers are. I''ve seen too many humans question the meaning of their very own existence, and most times they find who they believe to be their match and soul mate, this question fades away from their mind. Therefore, falling in love is clearly more important than anything else, more important than personal beliefs, be it political or religious. "You have a good point Derria. I don''t like this at all."


    I can''t ask the question to myself, because I''ve never felt what these two souls have before; I''ve yet to fall in love with anybody. I must still ask another who may know the answer one day; is this right? Is it right to separate people from who they love, for any reason at all? Those who would answer yes, can you imagine it happening in your own relationship? If your spouse who was previously the opposite sex as you were suddenly to be transformed into the same sex as you, personality and spirit kept the same, would that love disappear?


    For now, I only cared about the current situation and the current moment, of what was going to happen to Ramie and Hannah, easy as it was to guess. I wasn''t always able to keep my eye on the targets and watch over them with some of the daily chores to keep up with, but after what we saw, all of my entire aggressor group maintained a most constant watch over these humans to stay updated, hoping for the best.


    From what my sisters told me at the end of our daily gatherings, Hannah indeed suffered similar punishment, though it went far beyond anything vocal. Hannah was beaten, threatened, bullied, and partly brainwashed into changing her public view on liking other girls. She too was attempted to be "saved" at the local church by the holy grace of God and Jesus Christ, to be baptized again. It amazed us all what Hannah put herself through; her young age and lack of parental independence was all ignored by the unbreakable love in her heart, while Ramie merely endured quieter measures of torment.


    Weeks turned into months, until the story of these two we monitored came to a horrible end. As much as she tried to hold out, Hannah eventually gave up in an unexpected manner. Hannah never submitted to letting go of her own ideas, but then this only lengthened the wrath of her punishment, each beating removing a chunk of what gave her any spirit at all.


    What happened with Ramie broke her heart more than anything in life ever could, but what Ramie observed after getting to see Hannah for one final time, before her family was set to move to another state, created an uproar among all of us.


    I could only sit here and watch something for so long before losing my ever loving mind about what was going on. It was nearly impossible to control my own outrage against the injustice that only got worse, and my sisters all struggled with the same problem, our feelings in such peril that a few other aggressor groups wanted to learn from this moment as well.


    When Ramie got to see what remained of Hannah for the final time, it was more than she could bear. Hannah was in perfect health in every physical manner, but her mind and spirit were lost, disintegrated by the wrongful conversion her family put her through; all of her entire soul had been silenced by the eternal Dogma of the Baptist Church. Hannah fought for so long and so well, too brave for her own good, and instead of allowing her mind to be changed by the savages trying to control her, all which gave life and meaning to Hannah was destroyed, like a shield that could hold out no longer. Even having Ramie in her sights again did nothing at all to wake Hannah from the soft death she had endured, her current existence but a zombification of life.


    Ramie was supposed to hold back, to behave herself as much as possible. It was a miracle she was being granted the chance to see Hannah off one last time before the family moves far elsewhere for business purposes, far away from Ramie. After seeing what had become of Hannah however, Ramie threw away all the chains of resistance she let her family build around her. Arguing with anybody else was useless, this much Ramie knew. It was a war that could never be won in this lifetime, a war lost long ago for the both of them, so all Ramie could do was cry in silence while holding her best-friend, one last time.


    To Ramie and Hannah both, this hug was stronger than anything they had ever felt before, stronger than the fear of Hell, stronger than the wrath of their own creator, stronger than the eraser of time, and stronger than either of them would ever be on their own. Even though love comes in so many forms, it was this particular form right here that anyone would fight for, under any unconditional circumstance. "I''m going to miss you Hannah. I''m sorry it has to end this way." Ramie knew she was passively being watched, mostly by Hannah''s folks, who were giving their own farewells to Ramie''s folks nearby the adjacent room. There was little she could get away with, and nothing she could do to reawaken Hannah''s broken self, so it seemed.


    Days after Hannah moved away, Ramie tried one more to reason with her parents, trying to convince them why they were wrong to be too set in their ways, words which all fell on deaf ears. Not long after, Ramie removed herself from everybody''s control the only other way she knew how to, after overdosing on her mother''s medication, while submerging herself under the large tub of bath water.


    My sisters once warned me that in my own quest to find something interesting to watch and monitor in clairvoyance, I would sometimes stumble into the darkest days of somebody''s life, growing a level of empathy for them which strikes both ways yet never helps anybody in the end. This would have been one such moment, only this time, everybody helplessly tuning into Ramie''s demise became the target of this new emotional onslaught. It wasn''t our fault we became wrapped up in such horrific circumstances of Ramie''s life, nor was it fair what cards she was served in trying to make herself and someone else happy in an otherwise unforgiving world.


    Before we could ever adapt our minds to the weight of what happened, Junko and some others revealed to me that Hannah suffered a similar fate. She never knew what happened to Ramie, but seeing her beloved for the final time revived just enough of who she was to remember just how painful it was to be apart. With no hope of ever seeing Ramie ever again, Hannah also took her own life, several weeks after Ramie took hers, even though her death was a more violent and painful incursion...


    <hr>


    The Royal Scryers took us into the temple soon after we watched what transpired, several of us requiring emergency therapy. After what happened, I refused to reach my third eye into that world for two and a half years, fearful that I may ever come across another soul as loving and caring as those two, only to become too attached to their success prior to their futures crumbling to dust around them.


    After so long a time this tragedy was to pass, I had to convince myself that everything would be okay, in part because this happens more often than I hope to believe, but also in part because fairness in any world does not exist, no matter how humans want to spin it. We all require balance in many aspects of our lives, but life itself lacks a constant pull or push to these balances, of what some believe to be fairness, karma, or luck.


    However, having my mind linger on how unfair the world was only lasted for days. Instead, a more horrific question lingered on my mind much longer, still alive to this day. There are many ways to wonder and many ways to ask. Whether it happens right at the heart of a so called free country or in the depths of raw tyranny, people suffer from inequality or intolerance often, randomly and without exact pattern or karmic justice to balance it out even a little. We already know that any nation pushing for more and more freedom will never achieve it perfectly, because perfection is a statistical impossibility for any corner of humanity, individual or collective.


    So, I ask the humans of Earth this question, from any time plane, from any era, and from any corner of that world:


    Is Earth a Prison Planet, one giant globe of life where all who stand are chained and bound to one or more captors? Perhaps in some areas, the slavery becomes literal, where people rely on their superiors for basic living requirements, and that a single cry of defiance is met with lethal force. Perhaps in other corners of the world, people are held prisoner to their societal economic system, made to work tiring long hours of each day, only to never ascend far from that lifestyle, where only the rich prosper, or as some call it, the rat race. Perhaps the chains that bind people are more figurative in some sense, such as how blind faith in policy setters is taken advantage of, or how in what we''ve seen in the church time and time again, people being made to surrender their entire individuality, their entire personality, and everything thing else that makes a person human ¨C to some figure whose existence has never even been empirically proven by anybody, through force or through willing acceptance of ever evolving deceptions.


    No matter what anybody believes, all of us seem to be prisoners to something or to someone, no matter the severity of scale or the implications this scale has - when abused. People may be born equal, but they don''t maintain an equity level of freedom to their brothers and sisters, to their friends and family, to their allies or their rivals. Ramie and Hannah met such horrible ends, all because their wardens refused to accept in a harmless variation of love which they''ve never seen before, either by reason of personal preference, or by the unforgiving, unloving virtues preached from pastors who have a false sense of purity.


    It was never the church, the book, the economy, or any other intangible source I was angry with. I was upset with the people who brought such pain and misery to others, the very same wardens who could clearly see what their action wrought to their daughters. People made this all happen, and the people of ACS414 are where my anger belongs to, to the wardens who strip happiness and freedom from those who deserve better, individually or collectively, simplistic or complex. The answer to my own question has no singular form, because both the question and the answer are too complex to completely quantify.


    I could even ask the question in a different manner and end up in the same space:


    Can humans live the life that they want to?


    We already know that some can, while others cannot. Some people never get the chance to experience love, or even most of life itself. There never appears to be a naturally occurring balance or order brought to such a wild and random world, so I cannot rely on unnatural or impossible forces to grow or cultivate a colony into better versions of itself. Instead, I''d have to rely on the people within that colony to make it better for themselves, if they ever improve at all.


    The placement of humanity when faced with my last question is a manner to which they might self-reflect where they currently stand in an effort to make true progress. Can the people of the world, including every single individual - live life the way they want to? The more humans who can answer the question at least for themselves, who also claim that their prison planet prevents their ascension of happiness, the clearer the answer shall become, that Earth really is one giant prison planet.


    At the present moment, it''s times like these where I''m glad I don''t live on that hell hole.

 Chapter 038: Onset

    <hr>


    <11/12/149,566 {Avion 148} - 12:13 | Corral Position, Genosis, Altiri Sector Space>


    <Karnak to ACS414 Date Equivalent: 11/12/2010>


    <Telepathic Link: Established | Telepathic Strength: Moderate ~ {47<sup>o</sup>N}>


    When I wondered this morning how different today would be from the previous eleven days Reed and I have been communicating, I could never guess what ride the both of us were in for. As I merged my senses with his, I was once again immersed in the space he calls Saffrin Middle School. I couldn''t quite understand what kind of foul mood Reed was in, as it never made sense having never seen it before.


    I''ve only been aware of a particular trait Reed has for a short time, a trait of desire for constant and active stimulation, if not overstimulation to all sense, all thought, and all feeling. He''s always been one to prefer mental matter over physical matter. Reed would rather play video games than play sports, and he would rather conduct assigned homework if the alternative were to sit still and do nothing. It''s as if his mind is a chaotic sea of chatter and waves, stable only when he can hyper-focus on any task, one which draws on the metal energy of himself. It''s one of the many reasons why he finds writing book scripts to be favorable, never tiresome. However, I''ve noticed a sharp uptick in this perceived desire for intense mental stimulation, growing since the day we first met.


    I didn''t understand why a lack of anything bothered him as much as it did today, though I did my best to offer him any way out I could. It wasn''t easy when we''ve already discussed so much of both our worlds. No matter what montrum was on his mind before; Reed is somehow already bored out of his mind, and clearly unhappy about it. "I suppose it doesn''t help that you don''t understand teleportation dynamics. There must be something else we can talk about, or something else you can do to fill in the gaps."


    "Well I can''t think of anything right now Lumina. I need something right at this moment, not ten minutes from now. Man! Why can''t this school just let us do something fun for a change?" As angry as he might have sounded, I didn''t confuse what this clutter of thoughts felt like to me; raw irritation above all else.


    But what does he expect? A facility such as his is not going to provide him with free interesting work to look into. As much schoolwork as Reed gets, not all of it is fun for him to do, nor is it something that would ease his current immense boredom. "I suppose if school were fun, it wouldn''t be called school." It''s an analogous saying of another phrase I''ve heard: ''If work were fun, it wouldn''t be called work.''


    Not that I meant to joke around, Reed somehow took my wording the wrong way, his growing hostility ignoring any previous boundary. Maybe he woke on the wrong side of bed this morning. "I can''t take it anymore! I''ve been sitting here trying to think of something to do for the past twenty minutes now! And there''s still nothing new to talk about."


    "I''m sure I''ll think of something. Every time I pick a topic however, you change your mind and want to do something else. Don''t be mad at me." It wasn''t just our own conversations he treated this way. I''ve been with Reed the entire time he''s been in the library, and contrary to what he wants, he keeps closing tasks and projects, putting them away only a minute or less after pulling them out, as if he can''t make up his mind on what to do for mental occupation of load.


    When I brought it up to him, Reed dismissed the context without a second thought, and in mere minutes, his silent irritation began to turn into silent rage, only it wasn''t silent for someone like myself. Seriously, I''ve never seen behavior like this in anyone before, not on a single human I''ve ever observed. "If that bell doesn''t ring in the next minute, I''m going to storm out of here and walk home!"


    If it were any other day, I''d call his bluff. Reed isn''t close to his home. It would take several hours to get to his home if he did trek it there. Right now, I get the sense he would at least leave school of this onset of rage only continues to worsen. Before I could say anymore however, the school bells rang, right after he made the passive threat. "I guess fate is on your side today." Reed wasn''t so impressed, but he swiftly made haste to his next class, hoping for any and all reason he would find a new task to sink his rampant thoughts into.


    Unfortunately for Reed, long after gym class started, the faculty there decided to cancel a game that Reed was looking forward to, dumping fuel on an already enraged fire brewing deep from within. It was taking everything from him by now to keep his thoughts from being expressed verbally to those around him. Why was he being treated this way? Simple; some random student trashed the male locker room, and like the loving understanding people they are, the staff decided to just punish everybody instead of the one, as they knew not the culprit. "Tough luck huh. Leave it to a dumb heathen to ruin a sports day."


    "You know what? Whatever! I don''t care about dodge ball anyway. As long as I can find something to do, everything will be fine!" He didn''t sound fine to me, and this display was going too far even by my standards.


    "They still said today was free-for-all. So just do some sit-ups or something." I don''t know what else to suggest, but Reed is just going to have to get over the fact that life won''t give him everything he wants. I''ve lost track of how many times I found myself bored with nothing to do and nothing to think about. I''ve had to deal with such boredom less often due to my time with Reed, but that''s not the important life lesson here.


    My offer was of course refused outright, as if Reed couldn''t take no for an answer to slap his chaotic thoughts onto some sort of productive task. Again, I''ve seen this before, but never to such extreme lengths. It wasn''t long before he surprised me again, walking directly up to the gym teacher and trying to find some sort of solution.


    "Hey! Like, is there actually something to do in this class? Every day is a free day, the same thing over and over again." The teacher, upon hearing the frustration in his voice seemed a bit shocked at what they were hearing.


    Was I surprised? Not at all. Reed always has a way with words, but he can think and write far better than he can speak, a phenomena most humans gripe with. I''m not even sure what kind of result he was expecting from the failed attempt of persuasion; my guess only to leave gym class altogether. Of course, some random heathen interjected, in such a way where I could see the ending before he finished the sentence.


    "If you want, you could come play basketball with us," he said, holding the ball in his hands like a trophy.


    "Play basketball? That waste of space sport designed for a bunch of stupid heathens played with a bunch of rotten animals? This guy is a lunatic!"


    "Yes, but he has no idea that you actually hate all men like him." I somehow convinced Reed that heathens in his world are everywhere, and that their influence poisons everything. I think it''s only sourced from the sympathy he has on the millions we lost from Zinod, but for the moment, he hates heathens almost as much as I do, so naturally, any guy sports would be far out of range for acceptability, for both of us really.


    It was interesting enough that this was pissing Reed off enough to go vocal about it in the first place. Not only is he not the best with his words, Reed is also a bit of a rule follower, the kind of student who can''t stand being called out in trouble, so he usually avoids anything that would put him at odds with any teacher. That''s why, even against a well-known heathen in his class, his next outburst shocked me.


    "Cut the crap kid! I''m talking about something productive! I need something productive that won''t waste everybody''s time."


    Of course, his teacher didn''t like what he had to say at all, and struggled modulating her voice to repress her own anger that Reed would speak so harshly of a sport everyone else plays. "I''m going to ask that you be far more respectful today Reed. You''re already on thin ice for that outburst. Just try a game."


    "Oh, screw off!" Reed had just enough decency to restrain himself from giving both of these losers the double-middle-finger-salute, as he stormed off marching and stomping his shoes into the ground. He made way for the bleachers set vertically in the back, preventing anyone from sitting anywhere near him, obviously a silent pout.


    A few seconds of silence passed, myself speechless for a moment. I don''t get it; this much hostility spewing from Reed is too much to be normal, even if a heathen was briefly involved. It isn''t the idea of sports or even the canceled dodge-ball which enraged him. He already silently admitted as much to himself; he only wants something to do, which from this response makes no sense...


    "Reed...? Are you okay? I''m usually not the one who has to ask."


    "Just peachy! I''ll just stand here with a thumb up my arse until I turn to stone." I could feel his resistance, such strong resistance not to fly off some set of rails. His very own arms and legs were trembling with immense stiffness, his rage evolving, violent and pure.


    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    The benefit of telepathy enabled me insight into his growing madness, but not into the exact thought process behind this madness. By now, it was beginning to worry me. "I can totally sense that you are angry, but I don''t have any idea why... Reed, you have to talk to me. Tell me what''s wrong." Whatever it is, I''m sure I can help him somehow. Don''t let those feelings fester Reed! Tell me what''s wrong so I can help!


    I waited hopefully, but Reed wasn''t willing to give me the insight I asked for, and against my advice, he simply let those emotions fester, growing and building in ways that shouldn''t be possible. I knew by now that this was something a little more complex than not wanting to be bored, and it may as well be something he couldn''t simply get over by waiting it out. Yet no matter what I tired next to get his attention, he wasn''t giving it to me anymore. Instead, Reed went into some strange kind of trance or chant. I could make it out but it didn''t provide me with any clarity.


    <hr>


    Chapter Theme Shift: Snow''s Theme ~ Final Fantasy XIII OST</a>


    <hr>


    "I have to find something to do... I have to find something to do! I have to find something to do!"


    "Alright already! Find something then!"


    Instead of registering my own presence, Reed continued to chant the same message to himself, trading his telepathic voice for his vocal voice, though nobody around him took notice. "I have to find something to do! I have to find something to do! I have to find something to do!" It was worse than watching someone try to enact a ritual, and Reed''s arms tightened with his mind stuck in limbo, the rage continuing to build beyond what should be safe.


    "What the hell is going on?" I went vocal too, but Reed continued to ignore my presence, leaving me with a scary mystery uraveling before me. Long now have I realized we''ve flown far away from normal; whatever was happening to his mind left no explanation in its wake, as the rampant thoughts continued to grow louder, faster, and stronger, further amplifying our confusion and Reed''s ensuring meltdown.


    I started to panic myself, wondering what I could possibly do from here with no ability to interfere. If I could only control Reed''s body, or be there beside him to comfort whatever he was going through, it might have helped. Even so, I couldn''t begin to explain or predict what the hell was wrong with his mind, as none of this made sense. For whatever the reason, it was as if Reed couldn''t ignore the priority of finding any savory stimulus for his mind, and when failing to find it, like right now, he began to see red.


    I''ve felt the hatred and rage within him, for recently has he understood how The Unity feels to those we deem our enemy. Yet no matter what he claimed earlier, I could just tell that his hatred was secondary to my own, half as powerful ¨C for his existence lived was still brighter than mine. It''s partly how I knew that this rage within him now wasn''t targeted to heathens, nor to us. The logic of it didn''t hold up either, but I needed to do something! "Reed! Just listen to my voice and calm down! If it''s this important to you, then just skip gym class and find something to do... Reed!"


    Not only was he not hearing my voice, Reed''s mental condition quickly deteriorated. I don''t know what and I don''t know how, but something in him just snapped! Seconds was all it took for him to desecrate his own supplies and backpack, rampaging and slamming the material against the hard-waxed floor, yelling and screaming like a total maniac. Naturally, his display got the attention he should have received earlier from the staff and some other students, but by now getting near him was to be seen as dangerous. Anyone else would have been confused too, with someone as quiet and soft spoken as Reed screaming bloody murder out of nowhere.


    "Reed! Reed! Respond!" The telepathy started to weaken, though I forced what energy I could to stay connected to him. No longer could I directly hear his thoughts, though the outrage of display he put on meant I didn''t have to. Clearly nothing I said was even getting his attention. Reed started punching the ground and kicking the bleachers, disregarding any physical damage he was doing to his hands, disregarding how many people were baring witness to the unknown.


    "The heck is going on out here?" Junko, who must have heard my desperate pleas to Reed, entered the main room, where I''ve been for most of the day. By now, all of my sisters must be aware that something horrible was happening with my node.


    Unwilling to hide my terror-ridden eyes from her, I invited Junko in, though it was clear this wasn''t a situation we could directly affect or impact. Whatever Reed is going through is completely out of our hands. I knew that this wasn''t really him, that something had to be wrong with him to act this way at all.


    I did my best to explain the situation to Junko, trying my best to drown out the continued screams and shouts of pain and hatred, growing desperate for any kind of solution, though my sister swiftly reminded me that there was probably nothing I could do. Was this something the purge did to him, some kind of paradox created as a side effect of something we don''t yet understand? Maybe it has more to do with the thousands of thoughts screaming the same message in his head, drowning out and overriding all other sensory input beyond mere sight and sound.


    Though our hearts do not beat fast like those from humans, mine began to elevate, my fears unleashed that I may never see Reed normally again if this keeps up. I don''t know how conscious of his actions he really is right now, but if he''s just insane enough, he may move on from physical property destruction to targeting other people around him. "There must be something we can do! I don''t want him hurting anybody!"


    We all got our most immediate wish soon enough. Just as it seemed that Reed was slowing down, he stumbled in place once or twice, before his legs gave out, tumbling him to the ground with his eyes wide open. I brush off the slight pain of impact transferred through me, certain he landed in a position to face the ceiling, the only way I knew he was still conscious. "Reed!"


    "What happened?"


    Unable to sit still, I kept pacing around the room with my sister staring at me, panicking in sympathy that this still wasn''t a nightmare ending. "I don''t know. He just collapsed... But I''m still on him." Just now, I began to lose the part of telepathy which lets us transfer all sensation, which means the signal is slowly getting weaker despite the outdoor temperature of his zone remaining still.


    "That isn''t possible."


    Does she have to be so blunt about it? I know it isn''t possible. Telepathic connections cease to function entirely when one of the two becomes unconscious, so that means Reed must still be conscious, perhaps coming close to passing out without slipping away.


    "Come on Reed, say something!" He suddenly became to mute and weak, unable to move or get up from the ground, unable to project any psionic sound back to me. The danger of him hurting others was removed, but it was replaced by a lingering danger of something else I''ve never seen in any human before.


    Reed of course didn''t hear me, but I could hear the hectic chatter around him through his ears. At last, the adults in the room seemed to catch on that something medically unexplained had to be the cause this insanity, and so they were already preparing to transport him to their medical room. I doubt a middle school nurse would ever be able to match this, but it''s better than doing nothing.


    "Calm down Lumina. There isn''t anything you can do for him here. You just have to relax."


    I shot a death stare at Junko for the first time in my life, promising her that I would never relinquish my worry, not now of all times. How could I not care about what''s happening? This is Reed we''re talking about here! "Reed! Talk to me if you can hear me."


    "Lumina... I can hear you, but I can''t move! It hurts! Pins and needles everywhere..." At last I could finally communicate with him again, and this also meant whatever rampancy took over his mind had ended, but I wasn''t thrilled to hear how much pain he was in. Why would he suddenly be unable to move, and feel sharp pins and needles everywhere? This doesn''t make any sense!


    "Junko! He''s in some kind of trouble!" My pacing became more frantic, as I tried and failed every second to come up with some kind of plan to help him or fix this. "Reed, you have to keep talking to me. Take it easy and keep talking to me!"


    "Are you listening to me at all?" Junko repeated in opposition. "I know you''re worried Lumina, but if he''s hurt or something, it''s literally out of our hands."


    "I can''t lose him Junko! Not now, not like this!" Junko''s eyes lifted wider, though I couldn''t take the time to figure out what she was thinking to herself. All I focused on was Reed, my poor Reed suffering endlessly!


    "It''s amazing you can still be conscious enough for a connection right now, but don''t worry Reed. I''m right here with you. Just stay awake and stay calm."


    "I know, but it really hurts!"


    I''m very certain I can''t take this! However, our continued connection means he must still be okay on some level. As long as I can keep this connection alive, to keep him awake, I''ll be able to monitor every step of his recovery.


    "I can''t speak anymore! I can''t move!"


    "Just calm down. Let them figure that out." I figured it was only a matter of time before they either drag him to the nurse''s room, or resort to the more extreme measures of getting medical transport to a hospital. It bewildered me more to see that some sort of mild paralysis set in for him, enough to stop him from speaking, but not enough to block him from thinking... Oh, but he already sounds so weak, so slow and tired! Help him already!


    I froze where I was, concentrating as much as I could on keeping everything alive, keeping our connection strong so that I can stay with him for as long as I can. I can tell without our clairsentience that he''s scared of fading away, the nervousness I can hear in his voice. I must not leave him!


    That''s what I devoted all my power to do. Unfortunately, wishing I could do something and doing the impossible were still separated from our true reality. "Reed?" Come on, keep breathing! Stay awake and don''t fade out!


    "Lumina... I can''t..."


    "Stay awake Reed! Don''t fade on me! Reed!" I could tell he was fighting it, the immovable urge to give in to his growing loss of consciousness, as the connection swiftly became too weak for me to boost. In a matter of seconds, it was all over, the connection failing, Reed passing out, and me being left alone in the darkened silence of my separate world.


    <hr>


    Chapter Theme Shift: In the Pale Moonlight (I Can Live With It) ~ Star Trek Music (David Bell and others)</a>


    <hr>


    The gasp of what air I had left inside sprung from my mouth, my own body wobbled when the last pillar of hope I had crumbled under the weight of stress. "Reed!" I couldn''t speak normally anymore, my voice a husking whisper accompanying my tears. I knew that the verdict on whether he was alive or dead hasn''t been answered, but the bouncing thought of such was more tortuous than anything I had ever imagined before. The worry I used to have about Reed never trusting us was dwarfed by the threat to his life, and with no certainty left to cling onto, I felt myself become lifeless and without breath.


    "Snap out of it!" Junko, preparing to use her good hand to slap my face, shook my entire body instead, trying to help me focus on her rather than this tragedy. Hard as it was, part of me was still here, enough to acknowledge her presence. "I''m sure Reed isn''t going to die just like that, especially if they have people around him who can treat medical ailments. Please Lumina! Get a hold of yourself! If the connection has already failed, I need you back here with us. I need you to be okay..." Junko sounded less energetic in her last statement, her eyes glancing away from mine.


    It was just enough for me to understand that Reed wasn''t the only one who needed me at the moment. If I lose my cool now, drowning in a sea of worry to cripple my entire state of mind, my sisters will only worry about me more. If I had to guess what Reed''s final thoughts were just a moment ago, I''m sure he too would feel the same way, to have hope that everything would be okay, and to have hope that I wouldn''t self-destruct trying to learn what wasn''t possible to learn right now...


    With a deep breath and calmer mind, I tried my best to calm down as Junko suggested. It wasn''t quick or easy, and I could never slow down my senses heightened by the distress, but keeping a promise I made so long ago for Junko, I brought myself back, just enough to do what had to be done, following protocol. "I am Lumina, leader of the Cy-Stars and Altiri node for Reed."


    "That''s right," Junko returned with strong relief in her body. "You''re supposed to be the strongest of us all Lumina, so please hang in there. When the time comes for Reed to attempt contact with you after his recovery, you will have to be in a position where you can accept the reconnection."


    "You are right, my sister... I''m sorry, I didn''t know what to do, and I couldn''t handle¡ª" rather than hear me ramble on, Junko embraced me in a tight hug, certain from our own bond that she knew just how scared I was, how scared I still am. I didn''t deny her embrace, but it was only a small dent in my own chaotic maze of thoughts, uncertain of what I should really do.


    After releasing me, Junko held my hands and thought of the next step for me. "You already know the protocol for this kind of situation. Any and all forms of injury or severe sudden distress to our purge targets must be reported to the queen strait away."


    "But Junko, I''m in no condition right now to fly a ship." I''m having enough trouble remembering how to do anything else. Despite what I have Junko thinking, I''m still barely holding myself together.


    "Then we won''t dock with the temple. We are Altiri after all, and telepathy is our way."

 Chapter 039: Our Worry & Futility

    <hr>


    <11/12/149,566 {Avion 148} - 13:01 | Corral Position, Genosis, Altiri Sector Space>


    <Karnak to ACS414 Date Equivalent: 11/12/2010>


    <Telepathic Link: Disabled>


    In the brief time that passed, after taking another dozen minutes to calm myself, my sisters and I made emergency contact with the queen to deliver our report. Such was not an unusual protocol for people like us, people who have a purged human to tend to. I cared not that the Royal Altiri knew of his condition, but I placed my faith that they may have some answer for what I saw down there.


    "We understand that this is a difficult moment for you then..." For reason I didn''t comprehend, the queen kept her telepathic voice to us mute for a moment longer, as if to process something I knew not of. "Lumina. I know it has been a while since we last spoke in person. While I still hold our conditions present with an extension of time, I want you to know that I am on your side as well; I want you to make everything right, even if I still have my personal doubts."


    "I don''t care about that right now, my great queen." She''s trying to bring it up again, how I and all of my sisters betrayed sacred Altiri law by purging someone we weren''t supposed to. Winning Reed over to our side just enough to like the Altiri is something the queen wants from us, but I''m not doing this for her. I just want Reed to be happy, and just as well safe from any harm. "Please just tell me if you have an answer for this incident."


    As the queen thought long and hard, having already run the situation through some of her trusted Royal Scryers, I waited stone still without breath, uncertain what she might decree. "Based on what you described, we believe the incident to be that of a psychological ailment rather than a physical one, but without more information, we cannot be sure. I will start by saying, in all of the previous 23 purges we have had in all of our history, this really would be the very first time anything of this nature has happened. I believe that based on what we do know, Reed''s mind began to race into a trance of rampancy, before he was forced to snap, collapsing afterwards under the weight of his own uncontrollable stress and rage."


    "Even if it has never happened before, is this something that a purge could have caused?" The queen knew I was grasping at air for answers, but I needed to hear every open possibility, especially if this is somehow my fault. Not all is known about the purge and its latent effects on humans. For all I know, this purge could have triggered something deep inside of him that laid dormant for so long, be it physical in nature, or psychological. If it is something the purge has done, then I''ll never forgive myself, but it is only fair that Reed knows the truth.


    "It is our consensus that, we scryers do not have enough information to make a conclusion in the first place. Had this been a purge like the others, I would have been inclined to deny the purge''s own involvement, but nothing about your situation is normal. There is all good multitude of reason that we demand permission and examine a purge candidate before approval Lumina. One of these reasons is to assess the medical and psychological aspects of the human in question before beginning. In all of our time, the purge has been used on women, and in addition to this, a high majority of which were in near perfect health, from any angle you can imagine... I still think I am missing data on Reed, but it is possible he has numerous conditions that far differ from what would be normal in a purge candidate. If this is the case, it is therefore possible that your purge could have amplified such conditions, or at the least brought something out from dormancy. However, I speak of possibilities, not certainties. There isn''t really a way to know for sure what brought on this sudden onset. Alarming as it is, we need more time and info to be sure."


    "I see... You''re not sure either."


    "Lumina?" Junko addressed while sitting next to me. "I think the best thing we can do right now is just wait. Wait until Reed recovers enough to call you back. It''s probably the only way you might get any more info."


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    "That''s just the thing Junko. What if this is something he doesn''t recover from? What if he never heals?!" I couldn''t bear the thought of losing him forever just like that, and Junko knew as much, but the possibility dug into my peace of mind too often to ignore.


    "In all my time knowing you Lumina, I must say that this nervousness in you is too uncharacteristic."


    What does the queen mean by that? "Uncharacteristic? Forgive me great queen, but, you weren''t there when it happened. I saw everything Reed was going through, felt most of it, and I even watched the gradual unhinge of his mind, without any reason or sense."


    "Oh, this is precisely my point, leader of the Cy-Stars. I know you have felt cornered and worried before, but not quite like this. You are most often the calm and collected one of your group, capable of making insane decisions during insane times, yes this once incident laid with no final conclusion bars you from all action? I''m curious to say the least."


    "Maybe it''s because you don''t know what it means to purge someone, to interfere with their life, to push yourself into them, in a way which can never be taken back..." Amidst my mild defiance to our queen''s claim, a silence ensued before Sherika went loud, aiming her mind at me.


    "I don''t know Lumina. She has a point; you have been acting differently from this. I''m not saying you are doing anything wrong. It''s just, how should I put it...?"


    Fionne finished Sherika''s thought for her, proving that most of my sisters realized this about us already. "We already knew you were attached to Reed, and that you care about him a great deal. However, I think all of us underestimated exactly how strong those attachments are. This might go far beyond wanting to make a human friend..."


    Don''t say it! Not in front of the queen!


    "You really do love him don''t you?" I didn''t answer Fionne''s question right away, partly embarrassed for everyone else to hear about it. I wasn''t entirely sure myself how this all felt. All I was sure of is what I mentioned earlier, about wanting to be in his life, wanting to be his friend, and wanting Reed to be happy. Does that suddenly mean that I love him? Maybe Fionne refers to love in a different way? Before I could collect more thoughts, her very question set off Hurma like before.


    "Not this again Fionne. How many times do we have to tell you that our Lumina isn''t crazy enough to fall head over heels for some dumb jerk? Reed doesn''t deserve to be friends with anybody, rather slave to us who know him, as all heathens should be."


    As much as I wanted to correct Hurma''s rudeness, the bigger issue was still on my mind first. "You''re all missing the point! Of course I''m distressed over what happened. Who wouldn''t be after seeing something so horrible? I care about Reed with everything I am, and I''m not about to feel ashamed or guilty over it. It''s not just because I know he isn''t a heathen; it''s because I know he is such a good person. He told me himself that he''s been feeling a lot better from my own presence. How could any of his worlds make sense if were as Hurma says?"


    "I wasn''t aware anyone was making you feel ashamed at all, Lumina. I only wanted to point out that your behavior, while expected from most, seemed a bit strange, that after all which has enhanced you, an uncertainty in Reed''s current health was all it took to bring you near the bottom in an instant. It is only for this reason that I agree with Fionne''s assessment... I presumed you cared about Reed as much as sudden family; you would have to in order to break our laws and purge him... Yet, I still wonder..."


    "Queen?" What is she wondering? Why are we not talking about what to do?


    "Though it matters not for this moment. In order to protect the privacy of all who are purged, only my trusted scryers will check up on Reed, and only as necessary. It has not even been but a couple of hours, so the situation is too new to make any conclusions. Please, Lumina. For once, listen to your sisters, to Junko especially, and keep yourself calm and collected. Right now, all you can do at the moment is wait out this storm of mystery."


    I didn''t want to wait at all, but nothing I did would change anything. As an Altiri node involved in a purge, I am incapable of reaching out to Reed for communication on my own. Reed has to be the one who helps link us together, the only one who can call me. If everyone is telling me to be calm and wait, I still have no choice but to try. "I will try, my great queen."


    "Your purge on Reed was successful Lumina, and so far, things have gone your way, against all expectation including my own. Do not squander your own life by melting your mind with worry for what you cannot alter in the moment." She makes it sound so easy. Even though the queen is right, I wonder how many times she has used clairvoyance to see and track people of the world, how many times she has seen such sadness, such devastation, such unfairness, and such cruelty for people who don''t deserve it. People on Earth suffer immensely all the time, and no matter what, sometimes even with a purge, there are just things we Altiri cannot change.


    How many times must I feel this way? How many more times am I going to be held captive by my own sympathy, watching again and again while people suffer with no way for me to intervene? I somehow survived all of the times it has happened to others, but it is unimaginable that doom consume Reed entirely. If even he is subject to such unluckiness, how long will it be until I crack under this pressure?