《The blue Astrum of memories》 Chapter 1: The induction ¡°Hey SIx, come in! Six. Do you hear me?¡± Six heard a voice over the coms while six was still running the thermal scan again. ¡°Yeah, I hear you. What do you want now seven?¡± Six asked. ¡°Are you done? You have been there for two hours. How long does it take to scan one building?¡± Seven said. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me how to do my job and I won¡¯t tell you to shut up and let me work.¡± Six said. ¡°I''m not telling you how to do your job, I¡¯m telling you to hurry.¡± Seven said. ¡°Well, that¡¯s going to be a problem then. I can¡¯t scan the building under the surface. I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s the surface itself or the plating that¡¯s blocking my scans.¡± Six said. ¡°But we need the scans of the whole building. You know that this is a black site and that there are no plans for the building. If you return with just a partial scan Three will kick our butts.¡± Seven said. ¡°Then she can come here and do the scans.¡± Six said. ¡°I heard that. Do your jobs and stop whining.¡± Three said. ¡°Why don¡¯t you do a deep pulse scan?¡± Seven asked. ¡°Are you mad? This is a black site prison with only one prisoner and five hundred guards above ground. Who knows how many are underground. I do have a cloak but if I start a deep pulse, I¡¯ll reveal my position and they¡¯ll start shooting at me. You do know that a deep pulse takes about three to four minutes to complete?¡± Six said not believing that Seven even mentioned the deep pulse. ¡°Are you trying to kill me? They would tear through my Loki raider like paper.¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t you start the pulse, circle around the moon, while they shoot at the place the pulse started, pick it up when it¡¯s done and come to the Vulture? The deep pulse is the only thing that will give us the whole plan of the building.¡± Seven said. ¡°That¡¯s a suicide mission. But, it could work because I¡¯m piloting this thing. If you were down here you¡¯d be dead in a second.¡± Six said and chuckled. ¡°Ha ha ha¡­ The *I¡¯m the best pilot in the world* routine is getting old.¡± Seven said. Six, down on the moon, prepared the engines of the Loki raider and the deep pulse scanner. The engines had to start moving the raider immediately after the pulse starts. After everything was ready, he started the deep pulse and the Loki raider moved. As he predicted, a few hundred guards and sentinel robot cannons started firing at the spot where he started the pulse. Six was watching the countdowns of the engines and the pulse. By the engine countdown, if the raider continued orbiting at this speed, he will be at the pickup spot too soon. He slowed down the engines countdown to two seconds before the pulse countdown. When the pulse countdown reached zero he hit the button to collect the pulse and the button to jump out of orbit. Still orbiting the moon, he couldn¡¯t believe he was alive. He checked if he collected the deep pulse and it was there, he did it. ¡°Seven, I¡¯m coming back. I did it.¡± Six said. ¡°You did it? I really thought that would kick the bucket this time.¡± Seven said. ¡°Thanks for your kind words you bastard.¡± Six said, headed towards the Vulture and docked in the hangar. Seven transferred the data from the deep pulse from the radar to the Vultures computer and when the transfer was complete, he displayed the 3D image of the black site prison on the bridge. ¡°Three, the transfer is complete and the image is displayed on the bridge. I really think you should see this.¡± Seven said. ¡°Yeah, yeah. I¡¯m coming.¡± Three said. After a few moments, Three came to the bridge. ¡°What¡¯s all the fuss about?¡± She said. ¡°This. Look.¡± Six said. The 3D image displayed a building with two floors above ground with around two hundred guards and around fifty sentinel robot canons. However, there were ten floors underground with hundreds of guards, some human, others androids, and a prison cell on the sixth floor underground, with one prisoner, on one side of the building. ¡°All of this for one prisoner. What do you have to do to end up in this kind of a prison? Shish.¡± Seven said. ¡°How are we supposed to get to Nexeer and ask him about the Astrum?¡± Six said. ¡°Can you turn the image upside down and lower it a bit?¡± Three asked. ¡°Yeah, why?¡± Seven asked. ¡°Just do it.¡± Three said, seven turned the image and lowered it. ¡°There is a small space on the bottom of the cell that is exposed to the ground. Can we dig a hole with the laser and plant a bug there so we can talk to Nexeer?¡± Three asked.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡°We could but they will probably move him after the stunt we pulled today.¡± Seven said. ¡°Yeah, with the deep pulse we now know his location so they will probably move him somewhere else.¡± Six said. ¡°Then let¡¯s plant the bug now and hear what they are saying.¡± Three said. Six moved the Vulture underneath the moon and into position, Seven fired the laser and the bug. When the bug attached itself to the bottom of the cell, they listened. At first, there was nothing, but after a while, they heard the cell doors opening. ¡°What now? I didn¡¯t do anything.¡± That was probably Nexeer talking. ¡°Get up and walk into the glass box.¡± Typical guard arrogance. ¡°Why? Are you gonna experiment on me again?¡± Nexeer asked. ¡°No, we are moving you to the other cell on the other side. Walk into the glass container we will use the acid.¡± The guard said. ¡°Fine.¡± Nexeer said and they could hear the sound of wheels and the door closing. ¡°Ok, the guard said the cell on the other side. What room on the other side looks like this one?¡± Three asked. ¡°Let me check.¡± Seven singled out the cell where they held Nexeer earlier. He made the computer find a matching room on the other side of the building. ¡°Alright, we have two rooms matching the prison cell where they held Nexeer. One on the fourth floor and one on the ninth floor underground. The one on the fourth floor is deeper inside the building and it¡¯s not exposed to the ground, but the one on the ninth floor has half of the floor exposed.¡± Seven said. ¡°If I thought that someone would come to extract a prisoner I would definitely bury him deeper so that it¡¯s harder to get to him.¡± Three said. ¡°That makes sense. It would be harder to go through more floors to get to him.¡± Six said. ¡°Six, Seven, let¡¯s plant another bug on the ninth floor cell.¡± Three said. Six positioned the Vulture underneath the cell on the ninth floor and Seven planted the bug. They waited for the sound of guards bringing Nexeer into the cell, hoping they were right. After fifteen minutes, there was still nothing. ¡°They should have been here by now.¡± Seven said. ¡°Shut up.¡± Three said. After another five minutes, they heard the cell door open and the sound of wheels. They all sighed in relief. They heard the guards order Nexeer to get out of the glass box and leave closing the door behind them. They waited a few more minutes just in case the guards come back and then Three said. ¡°Nexeer can you hear me?¡± ¡°What? Who¡¯s talking? Where are you?¡± Nexeer asked. ¡°Keep your voice down and act natural.¡± Three said. ¡°How come I can hear you?¡± Nexeer asked. ¡°There is a bug planted at the bottom of the cell, but that¡¯s not important now. I need to ask you something.¡± Three said. ¡°Ask away.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°Are you Nexeer? The one that stole the Astrum?¡± Three asked. ¡°Of course I am. Why do you think I¡¯m here in this shit hole?¡± Nexeer said. ¡°Can you tell me where you hid it?¡± Three asked. ¡°No chance.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°Why?¡± Three asked. ¡°First of all lady, I don¡¯t know your name, I don¡¯t know who you are and what are your plans with it. I stole it for a reason.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°I can assure you that we have good intentions.¡± Three said. ¡°I heard that a thousand times. The Astrum is too powerful. That¡¯s why I stole it and hid it. No one should have such power because power corrupts people.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°How can I get you to trust us?¡± Three said. ¡°You would have to get me out of here for that and that is impossible.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°Give me a few minutes to talk it over with my colleagues.¡± Three said. ¡°What are you thinking Three?¡± Seven asked. ¡°There is a way we can get him out. Pull up the deep scan image again. You see the cell they are holding him in. The left corner is the closest one to the moon surface.¡± Three said and pointed at the place she was talking about, ¡°We can use Vulture to make a hole through the moon and the floor of the cell big enough for Nexeer to go through and pull it out with the harpoons. The pressure would catapult Nexeer out into space, where Six would be waiting for him in Loki. And as soon as he catches Nexeer he flies back to Vulture and we hyperjump.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a suicide mission. The guards would notice us in a second.¡± Six said. ¡°To the guards, it would look like Nexeer was in his cell and then a second after that he wasn¡¯t if we play it right.¡± Three said. ¡°We are doing this. ¡°Make the calculations Seven.¡± ¡±All right. Vulture has to be outside the range of the cannons¡­ Then the harpoons¡­ The lasers¡­ The pulling the part of the moon¡­¡± Seven was murmuring while doing the calculations and Six hated that. ¡°Just hurry up.¡± Six said. ¡°If you want, you can come here and do this by yourself. It¡¯s not easy to calculate every factor that could go wrong, especially not you.¡± Seven replied and continued. ¡°So half a minute to Loki¡­ Then to the Vulture and hyperjump. Hmmm¡­ We have a problem.¡± Seven said. ¡°What problem?¡± Three asked. ¡°The extraction of the part of the moon and the cell is going to last seven seconds. The extraction will cause tremors and give the guards enough time to enter the cell and grab Nexeer.¡± Seven said. ¡°Hmmm¡­ wait a sec.¡± Three said. ¡°Nexeer, is there any space in the cell where you can hide for seven seconds?¡± Three asked. ¡°Yeah, I can hide for seven seconds.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°Ok. Give me a sec.¡± Three said. ¡°Can we do it if he can hide? And if he can, in how much time from the start to the jump? Three asked. ¡°We can do it in under five minutes if he can hide.¡± Good. And how long can you hold your breath?¡± Three asked. ¡°About ten minutes. Why?¡± Nexeer asked. ¡°That¡¯s more than enough.¡± Three said ¡°We have a plan to get you out.¡± Three said. ¡°Ha! There¡¯s no chance there are too many guards here. You would be dead in seconds.¡± Nexeer said. Just listen to my plan.¡± Three said and explained their plan to Nexeer. ¡°You are all mad.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°It¡¯s that or the prison for the rest of your life. Choose?¡± Three said. ¡°All right. What do I have to do?¡± Nexeer said. ¡°Hide from the guards and when you see a hole, hold your breath and let the hole suck you into space. Six will be waiting for you in the raider there and bring you here to the Vullture.¡± Three said. They made all the preparations. Six took Loki and went to the moon right above the place where the hole will be. He depressurized the raider, opened the back door, sat in his spacesuit and waited for the Vulture to make the hole. Seven launched the harpoons and attached them to the surface of the moon inside the area that they will cut out with the lasers. He activated the lasers and in two seconds, they cut out the part of the moon and the harpoons started to pull it at full speed. The harpoons pulled out the part of the moon as if they were opening a bottle of wine. Six lowered Loki to the opening and as soon as he felt a bump and heard ¡°Ouch!¡± started to fly towards the Vulture closing the door and pressurizing the raider so Nexeer can breathe. It took him a while to reach the Vulture, but as he entered the hangar, he said. ¡°Punch it Three.¡± and they hyperjumped. Chapter 2: The new family After three minutes, they stopped and Six took control of piloting the Vulture. ¡°You know the drill. Six dummy hyperjump ships at the same time we hyperjump to base.¡± Three said. ¡°Yeah, I know.¡± Six sets six dummy hyperjumps to planets that criminals hanged out and deployed them as soon and they hyperjumped to base. Three went to the hangar and saw Seven talking to a yellow slug with ten arms and ten legs. ¡°Seven, Nexeer come here!¡± Three yelled and they both started to climb the stairs to the upper part of the ship. ¡°Hi, I¡¯m Three.¡± Three said looking Nexeer from head to toe. ¡°Thanks for getting me out of there. I was just telling Seven that I can¡¯t believe that your plan worked.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°All my plans work. That¡¯s my job. Come, let me show you around.¡± Three said. They walked through the back part of the ship and to the living area. ¡°You can use this room to freshen up and wait until we get to the base. It¡¯s gonna take us around half an hour to get there. Here is the kitchen. You can eat and drink anything you like. The bridge is off limits.¡± Three said. ¡°Uuuuu¡­ Normal food for a change.¡± Nexeer said and went straight for the fridge. ¡°Seven, I need you to keep an eye on him so he doesn¡¯t do something stupid. We have to get him in one piece to One. Got it?¡± Three said quietly. ¡°Why am I the babysitter again?¡± Seven asked. ¡°Because you¡¯re new.¡± Three said. ¡°I¡¯ve been new now for six months.¡± Seven whined but Three already left. They finally reached the base and exited the hyperjump. The base was a massive ship camouflaged as a big asteroid. They docked at one of the free docks and entered the base. First, they went through the decontamination rooms and after the decontamination went straight to the meeting room. The whole gang was there and they all looked at Nexeer with confusion on their faces. ¡°How did you manage to steal the blue Astrum looking like that? Anyone can see you for miles.¡± Two said. ¡°Shut up Two.¡± One said. ¡°Sit Nexeer.¡± ¡°I prefer to stand.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°Suit yourself. Let me introduce you to my crew.¡± One said. ¡°I¡¯m one. I run this crew. The one with guns all over is Two, she¡¯s in charge of weapons. You met Three. She¡¯s the brains. Four, sitting next to me, is an android. He is in charge of hacking and data extraction. Five is sadly no longer with us. You met Six and Seven. Six is the best pilot in the galaxy and Seven is a technology and gadget mastermind.¡± They were a diverse crew. Two was a Mehai. A race that specialized in weapon manufacturing and lived on a planet that had three times the gravity of earth. She was not only skilled in weapons, but she was also stronger and faster on places with Earth¡¯s gravity. She never left the ship without at least four visible weapons and six concealed weapons. Three was a Vexurian. She had fur all over and looked like Earth¡¯s snow foxes, but had three black lines that started from one point on her forehead and ended as a black tip on her tail. She was very intelligent and creative. There was no situation she couldn¡¯t find a solution for or problem she couldn¡¯t solve. Four was an android that could hack into any system and process Exabyte¡¯s of data in nanoseconds. He was also the crew¡¯s best spy because there was no virus, spyware or malware he couldn¡¯t program to spy on the target. Six was a Zonosian. Zonosians had sharp reflexes and an extraordinary sense of space, which made him the best pilot in the galaxy. He could pilot a warship through a meteor field and not touch a single meteor. Seven was the newest crewmember. He was recruited after Five died. He was a Thequlian, small but smart. He liked to tinker with technology and make gadgets. He made the crews coms that were undetectable by standard controls. He and Two were starting to be best friends because most of the gadgets he made were for twos concealed weapons.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Yea, thanks for getting me out of that prison. However, Three told me you wanted the blue Astrum. Why?¡± Nexeer asked. ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s your business. We have been looking for you for five years. All I want is for you to tell me where you hid it.¡± One said. ¡°I can¡¯t tell you. The Astrum is too powerful. That¡¯s why I stole it and hid it. It corrupts people. You saw what happened the last time when Zeddicus got a hold of the gem.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°Yes, I did. That¡¯s why I need it. To make things right.¡± One said. ¡°How do I know you¡¯re not going to do the same thing? No. I can¡¯t help you.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°All right then. Six ready the Vulture. We are bringing him back to the black site prison.¡± One said. ¡°What? You can¡¯t do that. That¡¯s blackmail¡± Nexeer sad. ¡°Yes we can and it¡¯s not blackmail. You won¡¯t help us so we won¡¯t help you. It¡¯s called fair trade.¡± One said and started to get up. ¡°Wait. Wait.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°I hate her.¡± ¡°What are you talking about?¡± One asked. ¡°Fate. She brought you to rescue me from the prison for a reason.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°Fate? What¡¯s fate got to do with this?¡± One said. ¡°I¡¯m talking about fate with the capital F. I¡¯m talking about my mom. I saw the symbol on your belt. It¡¯s the same symbol I saw when I was in prison. When my mom pulls an important string of fate I see a part of the future from that string and I saw that symbol.¡± Nexeer said. The whole crew looked at him wide-eyed, speechless. ¡°What you thought I looked like this? Like a yellow slug? No, I¡¯m a shapeshifter. That¡¯s the gift my mom gave me because the way I really look makes it hard to communicate with you mortals.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°You are insane.¡± Two said. ¡°You don¡¯t believe me. Typical mortals. Ok. This is how I really look.¡± Nexeer said and shapeshifted into a ball of light. ¡°So, who can tell me what expression do I have on my face?¡± You could cut the silence in the room with a knife. ¡°You see? None of you can see that I¡¯m smiling.¡± Nexeer said and shifted back into the slug. ¡°But if you can shapeshift, why did you choose to be a slug?¡± Six asked. ¡°To have ten hands so I can scratch myself.¡± Nexeer replied. ¡°Can you shapeshift into something less ugly?¡± Seven asked. ¡°Like what?¡± Nexeer asked. ¡°Anything.¡± Everyone but One said. ¡°Alright.¡± Nexeer said and shifted into a human. ¡°Better?¡± ¡°Thousand times better.¡± Two said. ¡°So where did you hide the blue Astrum?¡± One said. ¡°I gave it to a titan and told him to keep it safe.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°A titan? Aren¡¯t they extinct?¡± Three asked. ¡°Most of them are. However, this one isn¡¯t. This one is my grandfather. The titan of time.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°And where is he?¡± One asked. ¡°I know where he is. The problem is when he is.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°What do you mean?¡± Three asked. ¡°Well, he is in charge of keeping time stable, but there are events that tear time so he moves through time as we move through space to fix it.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°If his not fixing time right now, he will be at these coordinates. But, if something¡¯s wrong he won¡¯t be.¡± ¡°Hmmm¡­ Could we do something to time to bring him to our time?¡± Three asked. ¡°Shure, if you want to die.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°Seven, do you have anything that can influence time?¡± Three asked. ¡°I have a time loop bomb. But I don¡¯t think that¡¯s going to be enough.¡± Seven said. ¡°Give me a day and I¡¯ll find a solution.¡± Three said and left. ¡°A day? If she needs a day we will have our hands full.¡± Two said. ¡°Did you see anything else besides my symbol in the fates string?¡± One asked Nexeer. ¡°No.¡± Nexeer lied. He saw one getting shot. The next morning Three was on a bridge, doing calculations. Seven walked up to her and asked. ¡°Need any help with that?¡± ¡°Yeah, please calculate the length and width of the rip in space-time if we apply this much force.¡± Three said. ¡°Alright. The size of the rip would be¡­ Hmmm¡­ Roughly the length of an average solar system and the width of a red giant star. Why?¡± Seven asked. ¡°I have a plan. We just need to fill the mines with your time loop bombs, deploy the mines one over the other and recalibrate the lasers to collect antimatter, to make a bigger explosion, while we shoot them into the mines. Such a big rip should get the attention of the titan of time.¡± Three said. ¡°You do know that I¡¯m sometimes afraid of you. I know that if you ever want to kill me that I¡¯ll never be found.¡± Seven said. ¡°Then just don¡¯t piss me off.¡± Three said smiling. Three called the rest of the crew and Nexeer to the meeting room and explained her plan. She ran a 3D simulation over the table and even Nexeer agreed that that kind of rip in space-time could attract his grandfather¡¯s attention. Chapter 3: The old family The whole crew started preparing the mines and recalibrating the lasers on the Vulture. Nexeer gave Six the coordinates to the location where his grandfather was usually and Six took the Vulture to the location. When they got to the coordinates, there was no one there so they started implementing the plan. When all was ready, they moved back a bit and fired the lasers. The rip in space-time was so strong that it pushed the Vulture back a long way away. They needed twenty minutes to get back to the rip. When they got back the titan of time was there fixing the rip in time-space. The titan of time looked at the Vulture and asked. ¡°Did you do this?¡± His voice was so loud that the whole ship shook. ¡°Yeah, grandpa we did.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°Nexeer? What are you doing here? Why did you do this? How many times do I have to tell you not to play with space-time?¡± The titan of time said. ¡°Hundreds of times grandpa. I did it because I need your help and you weren¡¯t here.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°I was on vacation. You could have looked for me in our vacation realm.¡± The titan of time said. ¡°Oh, I honestly forgot.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°But since you are here I need the blue Astrum back. Mom sent me to get it.¡± ¡°Why is she not here herself?¡± The titan of time asked. ¡°You two haven¡¯t been speaking for thousands of years. Why do you think she didn¡¯t come?¡± Nexeer asked. ¡°That is a good point.¡± The titan of time said and extended an arm toward the ship. On his palm, a small blue object appeared. ¡°Open your hand Nexeer.¡± The titan of time said and as Nexeer opened his hand, the titan of time transferred the blue object to Nexeer¡¯s palm. It looked like a blue rose made out of glass. ¡°Thanks grandpa and sorry about that rip. It won¡¯t happen again.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°It is alright. I will fix it. It was nice seeing you. And say hello to your mother.¡± The titan of time said. ¡°Will do. By grandpa.¡± Nexeer said and the Vulture hyperjumped back to base. As they exited the hyperjump Three, through the comms, said all the crewmembers to the meeting room. The Vulture docked and they headed to the meeting room. As they entered, they all had smiles on their faces. ¡°So, you got it?¡± One asked. ¡°Oh yeah, we did. My plan worked perfectly as ever.¡± Three said. ¡°Good. Nexeer give me the blue Astrum.¡± One said. ¡°No. I can¡¯t.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°I¡¯m not going to use it, so it won¡¯t corrupt me. Just give it to me and I¡¯ll put it in a safe place.¡± One said. ¡°I know that you won¡¯t use it but that doesn¡¯t mean it won¡¯t corrupt you. As we speak, it¡¯s slowly corrupting all of you. We need to fix that before all of you rip each other apart to get to it.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°What do you mean that it¡¯s corrupting us? And how are we going to fix it?¡± Three said. ¡°When I stole it the Astrum got damaged and there¡¯s only one person that can fix it.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°Who?¡± One asked. ¡°We¡¯ll get to that. You first have to understand why it was made.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°Why is that important?¡± One asked. ¡°You¡¯ll understand. Just listen.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°You know the old saying * We were brought together by fate *. Well, that one is true but only for a small number of species like humans.¡± Nexeer said. ¡±For humans, Fate brings together soulmates, and for millennia it was like that. However, each time that she brought two souls together she got a little bit bored with how easy it was. So she started making it harder like for two humans, for two soulmates to meet each other.¡± ¡°But why would she do that if her job is just to bring two soulmates together. Why make it more difficult?¡± Two asked. ¡°Think of it like this you have at task to do, like¡­ To bring one ball from one place to another ball and you do this for thousands of years. At one point, you get bored and you swing the table, where the balls are, a little, so the ball doesn¡¯t go straight, it zig-zags towards the other ball. That makes you want to see what you can do with the balls further.¡± Nexeer said. The crew looked at him in complete silence. ¡°I know it¡¯s not that simple but that¡¯s what started to happen with my mom millennials ago. Before I was born. You know that she is not in charge of the fate of just humans, she is in charge of the fate of every species. The only difference is that other species tend not to have soulmates as humans do. Two, your species doesn¡¯t have soulmates. Adults from your species meet, have a child, take care of it until it turns six or seven and then they give you a way to a school that teaches you how to use and make weapons.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°Did you ever see your parents after they left you?¡± ¡°Once. They were glad that I lived through school.¡° Two said. ¡°My mom uses your species when she needs a specific weapon made. She pulls her strings to manipulate the events so that two adults of your species have a child and then that the child makes the weapon for one of her plans.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°Three, you live in large families and take care of the children like they are your own, no matter who the father and mother are. Do you have a male and female that live together for the rest of their lives?¡± ¡°No. The whole family lives together and all my brothers and sisters are actually my half brothers and sisters or we aren¡¯t related at all.¡± Three said. ¡°Six, your planet has families with a mother and father, have children, but you don¡¯t choose your partner, your parents choose them instead. They arrange marriages because of financial, political or social reputation. Has there ever been a case on your planet that someone married out of love?¡± Nexeer asked. ¡°No, and I don¡¯t want to have a family. That¡¯s why I left. I just want to fly spaceships.¡± Six said.
¡°Seven, your species is by far the most complicated. You let technology choose your mate for you based on factors to improve your race. Then you have a child and a robot nursery takes care of the child so you don¡¯t do something wrong or traumatize it. Do you stay with the chosen partner after you have a child with them?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the most efficient way. We don¡¯t stay with the partner. When we want we chose another partner.¡± Seven said. ¡°You see One? From the six of you here only humans have soulmates.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°You didn¡¯t ask four.¡± Six said and everyone looked at him with disappointment. Nexeer just continued. ¡±That¡¯s a completely different world. Fate doesn¡¯t meddle in Threes race that much. A string here and there when she needs something. She sometimes pulls strings in your race Six, but you Seven don¡¯t interest her at all. All of her attention is directed toward humans who have soulmates and with whom she could play out her scenarios, her games as she likes to call them.¡± ¡°She calls them games?¡± Three asked. ¡°Well isn¡¯t it the same for you when you plan your plan to solve a problem? Don¡¯t you enjoy putting the pieces together and making the plan?¡± Nexeer asked. ¡°Yeah, good point.¡± Three said. ¡°My grandpa told me that at first, when you humans couldn¡¯t travel through space, she would make more challenging obstacles for each of the soulmates. It got so bad that wars were fought in the name of love and thousands were killed just to make two soulmates meet each other. She was like that for a long time, she liked the drama, she wanted more and more drama, until, in one of her plans, something went wrong, one of the souls died and the other took her own life. That set off something in her, something she didn¡¯t even know was inside her. She made it right and the next time the souls were born at the same time she brought them together, but she never forget the thrill she got from denying the soulmates to be together.¡± Nexeer said and sighted. Nexeer sat down in a chair and crossed his hands. He had a serious look on his face. ¡°I was born around that time, when her plans, the games, got more and more elaborate. When you humans started traveling through space, she got a completely new field to play. She started using other races and pulling their strings to make the obstacles for you. Amongst other plans in motion, for the first time, wanting to feel that thrill again, she intentionally wanted to deny two soulmates to meet again. That¡¯s when she and grandpa fought. Grandpa tried to stop her, but she already decided and put the plan in motion.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°Do you have beer?¡± Nexeer asked. ¡°Yea, sure.¡± Six said and got him a beer.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. ¡°Never go five years without beer.¡± Nexeer said, took a sip of beer and continued. ¡°My mom¡¯s first plan failed, catastrophically. It ended with a white giant star turning into a black hole. Her problem was that she was arrogant and used other races, like yours Two, and some others, evil ones to start a galaxy war. She thought that the scenario would play like the scenarios on Earth she had done hundreds of times. Now you¡¯re thinking * But fate should know everything *. I can tell you she doesn¡¯t. She knows only what she plans and there are ways to cheat fate.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°That¡¯s an old myth. You can¡¯t actually cheat fate.¡± Three said. ¡°You can. Seventeen million dead souls in a black hole are proof of that. The human Fate wanted to stop from meeting his soulmate was smarter than she thought, stole a weapon of mass destruction from Twos world and in the final battle turned a star into a black hole, defeating the evil aliens. He ended up living the rest of his life with his soulmate.¡± Nexeer said. Nexeer took another sip of beer and said. ¡°That was never a part of her plan and if she wasn¡¯t so arrogant she would see her mistake. Eventually, she did learn from her mistakes and decided that she couldn¡¯t trust the races to do all the work for her. That¡¯s when she made the blue Astrum.¡± ¡°What? She made the blue Astrum? Why?¡± One asked. ¡°To have better control over who has it and cause more drama. But I think this time her real plan is to create a lot of drama between soulmates and deny them to be together.¡± Nexeer said and looked at one with a serious look. ¡°So if she made it we have to make her fix it?¡± One asked. ¡°Yup.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°How are we going to do that?¡± One asked. ¡°We ask her. I¡¯ll do that part.¡± Nexeer said, drank the last of his beer and stood up. ¡°Mom! Mom I need to talk to you. Can you come here?¡± Nexeer said. The meeting room got colder, ice started forming in the corners of the glass windows and a cold wind started blowing around the room. When the wind calmed down, in front of Nexeer stood Fate. She was bigger so tall that her head almost touched the ceiling of the meeting room. Her skin was white, but it had a silver glare, her hair was silver intertwined in a braid three times her height. She had a white dress with silver leather straps and a crown of blue flowers and vines. The flowers and vines came down from her crown and they decorated her braid. ¡°Nexeer, long time no see. I see you made it out of the prison.¡± Fate said. ¡°Don¡¯t give me that speech. I know you put me there and I know you got me out.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°No hi mom, how are you or a kiss. Straight to the point with you. As always.¡± Fate said. ¡°After five years of those barbarians doing experiments on you, you too wouldn¡¯t be in the mood for chit chat.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°It was your own fault for stealing the blue Astrum, giving it to my dad and messing with my plan.¡± Fate said. ¡°Admit it, you were pissed at me for giving it to grandpa and that¡¯s why you ratted me out to those barbarians,¡± Nexeer said. ¡°Yeah, I was mad. However, I did not rat you out. I just told them how to find you.¡± Fate said. ¡°So, how did they find me?¡± Nexeer asked. ¡°We are celestials. We can move freely through space, we don¡¯t need to breathe and we do not emit heat.¡± Fate said. ¡°So they found me with a simple thermal scanner.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°You witch.¡± ¡°So why did you call me?¡± Fate asked. ¡°When I stole the blue Astrum it got damaged.¡± Nexeer said and took out the blue Astrum. ¡°It has a crack that is releasing the poison that¡¯s corrupting the souls of everyone, not just the ones who use it. You have to fix it.¡± ¡°Only if you give it back to me.¡± Fate said. ¡°Not a chance.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°Then I will not fix it.¡± Fate said. ¡°What if I take it back from where I stole it. Would you fix it then?¡± Nexeer asked. ¡°Hmmm¡­ That could work. It would be as if you never stole it in the first place. Yes I would fix it if you agree to bring it back to the place where you stole it from.¡± Fate said. ¡°Then we have a deal.¡± Nexeer said. Fate put both hands over the blue Astrum and a white light shone through their hands. A silver string appeared starting from the blue Astrum and heading upwards. Fate pulled at the string and the string disappeared. ¡°All done. Now take it back. Or I will find a worst prison this time.¡± Fate said and in a gust of wind she left. ¡°Whoa! Your mom is really something.¡± Three said. ¡°So, where did you steal the blue Astrum from?¡± Two asked. ¡°From Zeddicus treasure vault.¡± One said. ¡°Six, go to the Vulture and set a course for Veirus, and hyperjump as fast as you can.¡± ¡°How did he know that?¡± Nexeer asked. ¡°Everyone knows about Zeddicus Nexeer.¡± Two said.
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Chapter 4: The wounds
Chapter Text They exited the hyperjump in the solar system where the Veirus planet was and hid behind one of the other planets so the patrols couldn¡¯t see them. ¡°First things first, we haven¡¯t been here for more than five years. We need a scan of Zeddicus¡¯ fortress and access to it.¡± One said. ¡°Six. Take Loki and fly over the planet cloaked. Scan everything with everything you got, just don¡¯t use the deep pulse.¡± One said. ¡°I¡¯m on it.¡± Six said and took the Loki out of the hangar. ¡°Three. The only one who wasn¡¯t down in the fortress is Seven. Think of a way that we can use that to send him in as a recon mission.¡± One said. ¡°Seven, how are the gadgets for Two¡¯s hidden weapons going?¡± One asked. ¡°I made her a bulletproof vest with six hidden guns. The guns are under a plate that their scans can¡¯t see through. Each gun has three ammo mags to reload and two rockets. She can control the guns with these glasses and voice commands. When she puts the vest it in the scanner it¡¯s going to look like a normal bulletproof vest.¡± Seven said. ¡°Two, do you think that will be enough?¡± One asked. ¡°With my regular hidden gear and the weapons I can take from the enemies, I think it will.¡± Two said. Three came back and said. ¡°We can give the Seven the Dagger. He¡¯s a runabout, like an exploration ship but bigger. Seven is from a race obsessed with technology so he could go there and ask to trade technology. I think that that would work.¡± ¡°Yeah, that could work.¡± Seven agreed. ¡°Good work three.¡± One said. ¡°Alright then. Take the Dagger and go down. Don¡¯t bring any weapons. Take the Sleep shooter just in case.¡± One said. ¡°We need to know who has access to Zeddicus¡¯ tower and information on security around it.¡± ¡°Got it.¡± Seven said, got into the Dagger and left for Zeddicus fortress. A few hours later, Six came back with Loki. ¡°Did you scan everything?¡± One asked. ¡°Guys, you¡¯re not gonna believe this.¡± Six said and started the file transfer to the ship¡¯s computer. They all went to the meeting room and waited for the files to transfer. As the transfer was over Three took a tablet and put up a 3D picture of the planet above the table. ¡°Am I seeing this right?¡± Three asked. ¡°Yeah, the whole planet is barren, it¡¯s a desert.¡± Six said. ¡°There is just the massive fortress on the planet, nothing more.¡± ¡°Zoom in on the fortress.¡± One said. ¡°It¡¯s a fortress under a dome and the dome is covered by some kind of shield. I think Seven would know more about that. The shield and the dome make it impossible to enter the fortress from above. It has only four entrances. Three, switch to thermal scan. Each of the entrances has guards inside and above it. There are around a hundred soldiers at each entrance. When you enter, you walk on the upper level that is circular and has soldiers around the inner entire circle. You see them?¡± Six said. ¡°Yeah. Is there a shield on the upper level at the inner circle?¡± Three asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I didn¡¯t see one. Three, go to the lower level and back to normal imaging. There is only a single way to get down to the lower level and here is a shield that goes from the entrance to this big two-story building. There¡¯s a small room before the entrance to the building and then a big room and three two smaller rooms. There are two guards outside the building, two in the small room before the building, and four guards inside.¡± Six said. ¡°Why are they so many guards inside?¡± One asked. ¡°There are so many guards because the first room is where they scan you, the four guards inside are there because there are three doors in that building. Two guards have the key for the door to the Zeddicus tower. One has the key for the treasury door and the other for the vault where I stole the blue Astrum from.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°And there is a shield on the first level in the inner circle above the lower level. It¡¯s not just above the lower level, it¡¯s also below and around it and if you touch it, you die. It¡¯s also undetectable by any normal scans. Maybe by a deep scan.¡± ¡°How do you know all that?¡± Three asked. ¡°You hear things here and there when you plan to rob the place.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°Yes and the tower has only one floor, the top floor. At the bottom, there is an elevator and it just goes to the top. Six said.¡± As they were talking Seven entered the meeting room. ¡°Guys, you¡¯re not gonna believe this.¡± He said. ¡°That fortress is massive. When I came in I walked in, I walked on a circular plateau. My every step was being watched. I need to rethink our gadgets now that I know their security protocols. The two upper floors are homes for soldiers only. There has to be thousands of them in there. Two, we will never have enough weapons.¡± Two said. ¡°What about Zeddicus tower?¡± One asked. ¡°It was hard to see from all the soldiers standing at the inner circle but what I could see was that the only people allowed to go there were some gray guys in red and gray robes with some kind of paper scrolls and I think house cleaners.¡± Two said. ¡°Then it¡¯s good that we have a shapeshifter with us.¡± Three said. ¡°You can shapeshift into the gray guy like you shapeshifted last time, when you stole the blue Astrum.¡± Three said. ¡°No can do.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°Why?¡± Three asked confused. ¡°You remember when my mom told me how they captured me. That I don¡¯t emit heat. One thermal scanner and my cower is blown. And one more thing.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°What?¡± Three asked. ¡°I can¡¯t shapeshift into something I haven¡¯t touched.¡± Nexeer said. Everyone was looking at him confused. ¡°Yeah. Let me show you. I can¡¯t shapeshift into Two, no matter how hard I try. But, if I touch her...¡± Nexeer started to say and saw a big gun pointed directly between his eyes. ¡°If you touch me it will be the last thing you will touch in your life.¡± Two said. ¡°Ok. Bad example. But you get my point.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°So we need to go to the fortress, find a gray guy and let you touch him so you can shapeshift into him. And we have to make you pass a thermal scanner.¡± Three said. ¡°Ok Three, you know what to do. We need a plan.¡± One said. ¡°I¡¯m on it.¡± Three said and left the meeting room. ¡°Six, upgrade the weapons on Dagger. Better safe than sorry. Two, Seven go work on weapons and gadgets. Nexeer, come with me.¡± One gave the orders to his crew and went to the kitchen. Nexeer followed. ¡°Want a beer?¡± One asked. ¡°Shure.¡± Nexeer replied. ¡°Sit.¡± One said and Nexeer sat opposite of him. ¡°When we go down to Zeddicus fortress I¡¯m gonna need the blue Astrum.¡± He said. ¡°You know I can¡¯t give you the Astrum.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°I didn¡¯t say that I want you to give it to me. I said that I would need it. Did you see anything when Fate pulled the string after fixing the Astrum?¡± One asked. ¡°I did.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°What did you see?¡± One asked. ¡°If I tell you I could change that event into something worse and as I told you there¡¯s a way to cheat fate, so it¡¯s not worth mentioning.¡± Nexeer said. He again saw One getting shot. ¡°Yea, you¡¯re right.¡± One said. ¡°So will you help me make things right? Will you use the Astrum?¡± One asked. ¡°Yeah. I will.¡± Nexeer said. Two days later Three ran into One¡¯s quarters.¡° I got it!¡± She said. ¡°I just need two pieces of information and I think I have a plan¡±. They called everyone to the meeting room. When everyone arrived, Three said. ¡°I got it. I figured out a plan. However, it all depends on two things. First, Nexeer can you shapeshift into inanimate objects?¡± She asked. ¡°Yea sure.¡± Nexeer shapeshifted into a chair then shapeshifted back. ¡°That¡¯s good, one down, one to go. I need one volunteer to be a heat source so Nexeer can pass through thermal scans.¡± Three said. ¡°I volunteer.¡± One said The crew looked at him and Three asked. ¡±You sure one?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± One said. ¡°That¡¯s it! We have a plan!¡± Three explained the plan and said. ¡°Now let¡¯s celebrate!¡± There was a tradition that before such a difficult mission everyone celebrated their time spent with the crew because, who knows, maybe this is their last time here amongst their friends, amongst their family. Chapter 4: The wounds They exited the hyperjump in the solar system where the Veirus planet was and hid behind one of the other planets so the patrols couldn¡¯t see them. ¡°First things first, we haven¡¯t been here for more than five years. We need a scan of Zeddicus¡¯ fortress and access to it.¡± One said. ¡°Six. Take Loki and fly over the planet cloaked. Scan everything with everything you got, just don¡¯t use the deep pulse.¡± One said. ¡°I¡¯m on it.¡± Six said and took the Loki out of the hangar. ¡°Three. The only one who wasn¡¯t down in the fortress is Seven. Think of a way that we can use that to send him in as a recon mission.¡± One said. ¡°Seven, how are the gadgets for Two¡¯s hidden weapons going?¡± One asked. ¡°I made her a bulletproof vest with six hidden guns. The guns are under a plate that their scans can¡¯t see through. Each gun has three ammo mags to reload and two rockets. She can control the guns with these glasses and voice commands. When she puts the vest it in the scanner it¡¯s going to look like a normal bulletproof vest.¡± Seven said. ¡°Two, do you think that will be enough?¡± One asked. ¡°With my regular hidden gear and the weapons I can take from the enemies, I think it will.¡± Two said. Three came back and said. ¡°We can give the Seven the Dagger. He¡¯s a runabout, like an exploration ship but bigger. Seven is from a race obsessed with technology so he could go there and ask to trade technology. I think that that would work.¡± ¡°Yeah, that could work.¡± Seven agreed. ¡°Good work three.¡± One said. ¡°Alright then. Take the Dagger and go down. Don¡¯t bring any weapons. Take the Sleep shooter just in case.¡± One said. ¡°We need to know who has access to Zeddicus¡¯ tower and information on security around it.¡± ¡°Got it.¡± Seven said, got into the Dagger and left for Zeddicus fortress. A few hours later, Six came back with Loki. ¡°Did you scan everything?¡± One asked. ¡°Guys, you¡¯re not gonna believe this.¡± Six said and started the file transfer to the ship¡¯s computer. They all went to the meeting room and waited for the files to transfer. As the transfer was over Three took a tablet and put up a 3D picture of the planet above the table. ¡°Am I seeing this right?¡± Three asked. ¡°Yeah, the whole planet is barren, it¡¯s a desert.¡± Six said. ¡°There is just the massive fortress on the planet, nothing more.¡± ¡°Zoom in on the fortress.¡± One said. ¡°It¡¯s a fortress under a dome and the dome is covered by some kind of shield. I think Seven would know more about that. The shield and the dome make it impossible to enter the fortress from above. It has only four entrances. Three, switch to thermal scan. Each of the entrances has guards inside and above it. There are around a hundred soldiers at each entrance. When you enter, you walk on the upper level that is circular and has soldiers around the inner entire circle. You see them?¡± Six said. ¡°Yeah. Is there a shield on the upper level at the inner circle?¡± Three asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I didn¡¯t see one. Three, go to the lower level and back to normal imaging. There is only a single way to get down to the lower level and here is a shield that goes from the entrance to this big two-story building. There¡¯s a small room before the entrance to the building and then a big room and three two smaller rooms. There are two guards outside the building, two in the small room before the building, and four guards inside.¡± Six said.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°Why are they so many guards inside?¡± One asked. ¡°There are so many guards because the first room is where they scan you, the four guards inside are there because there are three doors in that building. Two guards have the key for the door to the Zeddicus tower. One has the key for the treasury door and the other for the vault where I stole the blue Astrum from.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°And there is a shield on the first level in the inner circle above the lower level. It¡¯s not just above the lower level, it¡¯s also below and around it and if you touch it, you die. It¡¯s also undetectable by any normal scans. Maybe by a deep scan.¡± ¡°How do you know all that?¡± Three asked. ¡°You hear things here and there when you plan to rob the place.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°Yes and the tower has only one floor, the top floor. At the bottom, there is an elevator and it just goes to the top. Six said.¡± As they were talking Seven entered the meeting room. ¡°Guys, you¡¯re not gonna believe this.¡± He said. ¡°That fortress is massive. When I came in I walked in, I walked on a circular plateau. My every step was being watched. I need to rethink our gadgets now that I know their security protocols. The two upper floors are homes for soldiers only. There has to be thousands of them in there. Two, we will never have enough weapons.¡± Two said. ¡°What about Zeddicus tower?¡± One asked. ¡°It was hard to see from all the soldiers standing at the inner circle but what I could see was that the only people allowed to go there were some gray guys in red and gray robes with some kind of paper scrolls and I think house cleaners.¡± Two said. ¡°Then it¡¯s good that we have a shapeshifter with us.¡± Three said. ¡°You can shapeshift into the gray guy like you shapeshifted last time, when you stole the blue Astrum.¡± Three said. ¡°No can do.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°Why?¡± Three asked confused. ¡°You remember when my mom told me how they captured me. That I don¡¯t emit heat. One thermal scanner and my cower is blown. And one more thing.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°What?¡± Three asked. ¡°I can¡¯t shapeshift into something I haven¡¯t touched.¡± Nexeer said. Everyone was looking at him confused. ¡°Yeah. Let me show you. I can¡¯t shapeshift into Two, no matter how hard I try. But, if I touch her...¡± Nexeer started to say and saw a big gun pointed directly between his eyes. ¡°If you touch me it will be the last thing you will touch in your life.¡± Two said. ¡°Ok. Bad example. But you get my point.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°So we need to go to the fortress, find a gray guy and let you touch him so you can shapeshift into him. And we have to make you pass a thermal scanner.¡± Three said. ¡°Ok Three, you know what to do. We need a plan.¡± One said. ¡°I¡¯m on it.¡± Three said and left the meeting room. ¡°Six, upgrade the weapons on Dagger. Better safe than sorry. Two, Seven go work on weapons and gadgets. Nexeer, come with me.¡± One gave the orders to his crew and went to the kitchen. Nexeer followed. ¡°Want a beer?¡± One asked. ¡°Shure.¡± Nexeer replied. ¡°Sit.¡± One said and Nexeer sat opposite of him. ¡°When we go down to Zeddicus fortress I¡¯m gonna need the blue Astrum.¡± He said. ¡°You know I can¡¯t give you the Astrum.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°I didn¡¯t say that I want you to give it to me. I said that I would need it. Did you see anything when Fate pulled the string after fixing the Astrum?¡± One asked. ¡°I did.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°What did you see?¡± One asked. ¡°If I tell you I could change that event into something worse and as I told you there¡¯s a way to cheat fate, so it¡¯s not worth mentioning.¡± Nexeer said. He again saw One getting shot. ¡°Yea, you¡¯re right.¡± One said. ¡°So will you help me make things right? Will you use the Astrum?¡± One asked. ¡°Yeah. I will.¡± Nexeer said. Two days later Three ran into One¡¯s quarters.¡° I got it!¡± She said. ¡°I just need two pieces of information and I think I have a plan¡±. They called everyone to the meeting room. When everyone arrived, Three said. ¡°I got it. I figured out a plan. However, it all depends on two things. First, Nexeer can you shapeshift into inanimate objects?¡± She asked. ¡°Yea sure.¡± Nexeer shapeshifted into a chair then shapeshifted back. ¡°That¡¯s good, one down, one to go. I need one volunteer to be a heat source so Nexeer can pass through thermal scans.¡± Three said. ¡°I volunteer.¡± One said The crew looked at him and Three asked. ¡±You sure one?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± One said. ¡°That¡¯s it! We have a plan!¡± Three explained the plan and said. ¡°Now let¡¯s celebrate!¡± There was a tradition that before such a difficult mission everyone celebrated their time spent with the crew because, who knows, maybe this is their last time here amongst their friends, amongst their family. Chapter 5: The scars It was go time. Nexeer shapeshifted into a One¡¯s bracelet. They all got into the Dagger, headed towards the planet and landed near one of the gates. One, Two and Three were on the blacklist so they put a small circle under their chin, that Seven made and that scrambled markers by which the face recognition system recognizes your face, and left with Seven and Fur towards the fortress. ¡°Why did you paint me red?¡± Four asked. ¡°So they don¡¯t recognize you.¡± Seven said. ¡°Couldn¡¯t you choose another color?¡± For asked. ¡°Red was al we had.¡± Seven said. ¡°I hate red.¡± Four said. When they reached the gate, the guards asked them a lot of questions about the purpose of their business in the fortress and made them strip almost all of their clothing. ¡°What is this?¡± One guard asked Two. ¡°A bulletproof vest. I¡¯m his bodyguard.¡± Two replied. ¡°Why is it so heavy?¡± The guard asked. ¡°It¡¯s not to me. I¡¯m a Mehai.¡± Two said. ¡°Alright.¡± The guard said. Threw went through their other things and let them go in. ¡°Good thinking about that Mehai thing Two.¡± Seven said. ¡°That always works because no one wants to be punched by a Mehai.¡± Two said. When they were in, they found a safe place, Nexeer shapeshifted back and they split up. Two, Four and Seven went to look for the display system to hack it and One, Three and Nexeer went looking for a grey man with a scroll. Three found many gray men in one place, sitting and drinking. ¡°This must be where they hang out. Do you see any gray man with a scroll?¡± Three asked. ¡°No, but I see tubes on the wall behind them. Maybe the scrolls come from there.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°Here¡¯s a pub, let¡¯s sit, order drinks and watch what happens.¡± One said and they sat at a table where they had a clear view of the gray men. They ordered their drinks and almost finished them when a scroll came down through one of the tubes in the wall and a gray man got up and took it. ¡°Let¡¯s go. There is an alley two blocks of houses away.¡± Nexeer said, so they followed the gray man, jumped him and dragged him into the alley behind the house. One was holding his mouth closed and when they were out of sight, Nexeer asked with a soft voice. ¡°If my friend here removes his hand and you yell I will cut off your hand. Nod if you understand?¡± The gray man nodded. ¡°So, will you yell?¡± Nexeer asked with a soft voice and the gray man shook his head. ¡°Good. You can let go of his mouth.¡± Nexeer said to One and the gray man started to yell. One covered his mouth and Nexeer cut off the gray man¡¯s hand that wasn¡¯t holding the scroll. ¡°Now look what you made me do. Next time I¡¯ll cut off your foot. Will you yell?¡± Nexeer asked again with a soft voice. The gray man was crying and he shook his head. ¡°Remove your hand.¡± Nexeer said to One and this time the gray man didn¡¯t yell, he just cried. ¡°All I want is some answers. Do you think you could do that?¡± Nexeer asked again with a soft voice. The gray man nodded. ¡°You are bringing that scroll to the tower. Am I right?¡± Nexeer asked still using the soft voice. ¡°How do you bring it to the tower?¡± He asked. ¡°I¡­ I¡­ I go down to the building and they¡­ they scan me and I go to the big room and¡­ and they ask me to see the color of the scroll¡­ and¡­ what does the color mean? This is a blue scroll and this is a report from a general. Will you let me go now?¡± The gray man asked. Nexeer put his hand on the gray man¡¯s head and said. ¡°Of course we will.¡± Then he killed him. ¡°So they check if you know what the scroll that you are bringing means. That¡¯s smart.¡± One said. ¡°Yeah, if you don¡¯t know they probably kill you on the spot.¡± Nexeer said and they exited the ally where Three was keeping guard. ¡°Did you get it?¡± Three asked. ¡°You still doubt me.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°We also learned how to get past the guards to the tower.¡± He said with a smile and blood on his hands. ¡°Go wash your hands, you can¡¯t walk around with blood on your hands.¡± Three said. ¡°There¡¯s no need.¡± Nexeer said and absorbed the blood into himself like a sponge. ¡°That was really disgusting.¡± Three said. ¡°You think that¡¯s disgusting. You should have seen him eat the guy.¡± One said. ¡°Why did you eat the guy?¡± Three asked shocked. ¡°So there¡¯s only one of us.¡± Nexeer looked at her as if it was the normal thing to do. ¡°I don¡¯t even want to know. Let¡¯s check how others are doing. Two, Seven, Four. Can anyone hear me?¡± Three said. ¡°Seven here. We followed the signal from the screens to a room crawling with guards. That¡¯s the main access room.¡± Seven said. ¡°Seven is being dramatic. There are only four dozen guards. Four and I can easily take them down.¡± Two said. ¡°I¡¯m not being dramatic. You have to do it without damaging the equipment.¡± Seven said. ¡°My aim is always perfect.¡± Four said. ¡°Mine too.¡± Four said. ¡°We do have the element of surprise, but I think I can give us one more advantage. Give me your paralyzing gadgets. Four what do you mean you didn¡¯t take yours?¡± Seven said. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°I didn¡¯t think I¡¯ll need it.¡± Four said. ¡°Aaaarrrg...¡± Seven screamed silently ¡°We¡¯ll call you when we have control of the main access room.¡± ¡°These seem to be doing ok.¡± Nexeer said. Three gripped her nose between her eyes and sighed. After a few minutes, she took her tablet and looked at the fortress plans. ¡°So, the only way down is over there, twenty minute¡¯s walk from here. We have to do the shapeshifting somewhere no one sees us and I¡¯m not talking about an ally where anyone could come walking in.¡± Three said. ¡°Is there a place like that on the map?¡± One asked. ¡°I¡¯m looking.¡± Three said. Meanwhile, Two, Four and Seven had their own problems with getting access to the control room. Being cramped in a small air duct wasn¡¯t helping either. ¡°Why can¡¯t I just jump there and kill them all?¡± Two asked. ¡°Because it¡¯s not their fault that they are soldiers for that maniac. They don¡¯t deserve to die because of that.¡± Seven said. ¡°Besides, I would have everything under control if somebody hadn¡¯t forgotten their paralyzing gadget.¡± He said. ¡°Then you should have told us to take them before the mission.¡± Four said. ¡°It¡¯s standard equipment you... You pile of metal.¡± Seven said angrily. ¡°I can¡¯t stand this anymore. I can¡¯t sit here and listen to you bicker.¡± Two said and started crawling through the air duct to the end of the room, away from the entrance. She slowly removed the cower on the floor of the air duct and jumped into the room. She landed in a crouching position and slowly stood up, her head bent down. All of the guards had their weapons pointed at her. ¡°Identify yourself. How did you get here?¡± One of the guards said and Two activated all of her six hidden guns and opened all their missile launchers. She raised her head a little and with a smile from ear to ear punched the wall with her right hand. She punched it so hard that her arm went all the way through the wall to her elbow. ¡°Hi, guys! Anybody feel like fighting a Mehai today?¡± Two sad in a crazy voice. In a few seconds, the control room was empty. Four and Seven got out of the air duct and looked at Two like some killer from a horror movie. ¡°What? That was the quickest way and nobody died.¡± Two said. ¡°Just hope that nobody had heart problems because that just looked like a scene from a horror movie.¡± Seven said. ¡°One, Three we got into the control room. We are beginning to hack it. You guys doing ok?¡± Seven said over the coms. ¡°We are one step away from going to the lower level. I¡¯ll call when the guys go inside the building.¡± Three said. ¡°Got it.¡± Seven said and he and Four started to hack the system while Two was watching and standing guard. On the plateau, Three found a warehouse and stood guard outside the door while Nexeer shapeshifted around One. The idea was that Nexeer would shapeshift like a thin layer around One so that he passes the DNA scan from the gray man and the thermal scanners from One. Three could hear quiet sound coming from the warehouse. ¡°I can¡¯t breathe.¡± One said. ¡°Wait, let me sift a bit.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°Is that better?¡± He asked. ¡°Yeah.¡± One said. ¡°Ok. When we go through the DNA scanner, you will have to hold your breath because I¡¯ll have to close off all the holes so they don¡¯t scan your DNA. When we enter the room and I touch my stomach you hold your breath. When I touch it again you can breathe¡± Nexeer said. ¡°You ready?¡± He asked. ¡°I think so. This feels so weird, but, let¡¯s go.¡± One said. They got out of the warehouse and headed towards the elevator. Nexeer and One went down to the lower level and walked into the building. ¡°Two, Four, Seven they¡¯re in. How¡¯s the hack coming?¡± Three asked. ¡°We are almost done. When we hack it, all the screens are going to display the message from the tower.¡± Seven said. ¡°Good. One will tell you when to display the message.¡± Three said. Her job was done for now so she just waited for Nexeer and One to get out of the building and go to the tower. In the building, Nexeer gave one of the guards the scroll to scan it and turned towards the scans he needed to walk through. Last time there were six, now they were seven. He touched his stomach, signaling one to hold his breath and started walking through the scans. None of the scans sounded off so he touched his stomach again, so One can breathe again, and took the scroll. A guard opened the door to a big room, Nexeer entered and walked over to the two guards. ¡°What scroll are you carrying?¡± One of the guards asked. ¡°A report from a general.¡± Nexeer said and the guard, satisfied with the answer, opened the door and let him through. Three saw them leave the building and walk towards the tower. ¡°Good job you guys.¡± She said. ¡°This one¡¯s on you. You were right about the thermal scanner. Good work.¡± One said. ¡°Seven, do you hear me?¡± He asked. ¡°Sure do? What¡¯s up?¡± Seven said. ¡°Can you or Four cut all communications going out from the tower?¡± One asked. ¡°Just going out?¡± Seven asked. ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t want total blackout of communications, just block any signal coming out of the tower.¡± One said. ¡°Four, you heard that? Can you do it?¡± Seven asked. ¡°It¡¯s done.¡± Four said. ¡°Thanks guys. Good work.¡± One said. Nexeer and One entered the tower and went to the top floor with the elevator. The elevator doors opened directly into Zeddicus chambers. The complete top floor were Zeddicus¡¯ chambers. ¡°Another one?¡± Zeddicus said. ¡°Which one this time.¡± ¡°Report from a general.¡° Nexeer said. ¡°Wait. Do I know you? Something seems familiar about your voice.¡± Zeddicus said. Zeddicus had his back turned towards Nexeer and One. Nexeer shapeshifted to a random human and One moved silently towards Zeddicus. ¡°I think you should know me. I am the one who stole the blue Astrum from you.¡± Nexeer said calmly. Zeddicus turned around with shock on his face and didn¡¯t see One before it was too late. One jumped him and threw him on the floor, holding his hands. Nexeer took some rope out of One¡¯s pockets and they tied up Zeddicus to a chair. ¡°Well well well. You don¡¯t look so scary tied like this.¡± One said. ¡°My man will come here any second. I alerted them.¡± Zeddicus said. ¡°No, they won¡¯t. We took care of that.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°What do you want? You want to steal something from me again?¡± Zeddicus asked. ¡°No, we just had enough of your bullshit.¡± One said as he was playing with the mini golf set. ¡°I didn¡¯t believe the commercials but this is really relaxing. I think I¡¯ll buy one.¡± ¡°So what, you¡¯re going to kill me now?¡± Zeddicus asked. ¡°No, that would be too easy. We have some other plans for you. Nexeer, show him.¡± One said and Nexeer showed the blue Astrum to Zeddicus. ¡°Ha! You don¡¯t know how it works. You¡¯ll never be able to use it on me.¡± Zeddicus said laughing. ¡°That¡¯s where you¡¯re wrong. I know all about it because my mother made it.¡± Nexeer said smiling as he saw the smile on Zeddicus face turn into shock. ¡°Shall we begin?¡± One said and Nexeer dragged a camera in front of Zeddicus face. ¡°What are you doing? You can¡¯t do that. Don¡¯t you know who I am?¡± Zeddicus asked with panic in his voice and dread on his face. Nexeer put the blue Astrum in front of Zeddicus face, One grabbed Nexeer¡¯s arm and started to say. ¡°We know who you are. But, in a short while you won¡¯t.¡± ¡°No, you can¡¯t do this. Stop it!¡± Zeddicus yelled. ¡°Nexeer, activate the blue Astrum.¡± One said and the blue Astrum started to glow. ¡°Zeddicus, you will never remember who you are. You will never remember what you are. You will even forget that you need food and you will never feel hungry. You will only remember and be haunted by the faces of people that died because of your actions.¡± One said and Zeddicus face went blank. ¡°Four, Seven did you hack the screens?¡± One asked. ¡°Already done.¡± Seven said. ¡°Can you get to the camera in the tower? Do you see Zeddicus?¡± One asked. ¡°Yeah, I can see him. What have you done to him?¡± Seven asked. ¡°What he did to the millions of others. Just a sec.¡± One said ¡°Nexeer, get his staff and put it in his hand. Yeah, like that. Now put the blue Astrum at the top. Seven, do you have him, his staff and the Astrum in the shot?¡± He asked. ¡°Let me zoom out a bit. Got it.¡± Seven said. Up in the tower, One said to Nexeer. ¡°Grab his staff so it looks like Zeddicus is giving orders. We will tell Zeddicus to repeat my words and transmit that message through the whole fortress. Activate the Astrum Nexeer.¡± One said and stood in front of Zeddicus. ¡°You will repeat every word I say. Got it?¡± One said. ¡°Got it.¡± Zeddicus said. ¡°So, let¡¯s try it.¡± One said. ¡°So, let¡¯s try it.¡± Zeddicus said. ¡°I think it works.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°Ok Seven, count to ten and then we go live.¡± One said. ¡°Ok Seven, count to ten and then we go live.¡± Zeddicus said. ¡°Got it.¡± Seven said. One could hear Seven counting down from ten and a few seconds after the countdown he saw Zeddicus appear on all screens in the fortress. Chapter 6: The reunion Nexeer sat on the floor holding the staff, keeping the blue Astrum activated and one was crouching behind Zeddicus speaking the words that Zeddicus will repeat. Thinking that enough time has passed One started to say. ¡°All of my soldiers and servants under my control. From this day onward, you will no longer be under my control. You will not remember what I have done to you. You will not remember that I was your master and you will not remember what you did when you were under my control. What little memories you have left of your past selves I give back to you.¡± One made a pause for the magic from the blue Astrum to take effect. ¡°You, my loyal servants will help the people I enslaved, by taking them away from their homes and families, help find who they are and where do they come from. This will be your task. The Zeddicus fortress is no more a military base. To all that are listening, the Zeddicus fortress is from now on a sanctuary.¡± One said and moved away from Zeddicus. ¡°Cut the feed Seven.¡± He whispered. One returned to Nexeer and Zeddicus and said. ¡°You, Zeddicus, will not repeat my words anymore.¡± They untied Zeddicus, put him on the bed and left the tower. They walked through the security building seeing all the guards confused, not knowing what to do. They just passed the scanners and went up to the plateau where Three was waiting for them. ¡°You created quite the chaos here.¡± Three said. ¡°You should have seen what he did to Zeddicus.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°What? What did you do?¡± Three asked. ¡°I made him forget who and what he is without the possibility to ever remember and I told him to forget he needs to eat and feel hunger.¡± One said with a smile. ¡°Uuuuuu¡­ That¡¯s cruel. You¡¯re gonna starve him to death.¡± Three said. ¡°Yup. He deserves even worse.¡± One said. As they were talking Two, Four and Seven joined them. ¡°What chaos.¡± Seven said. ¡°Then it¡¯s good that you¡¯re here. You have access to all of the face recognition databases. I¡¯m going to need you to upload the databases here so that they can identify the people that they abducted. For will help you. We just need to find someone who¡¯s in charge.¡± One said. ¡°I think I know who¡¯s in charge. However, two may have frightened him to death. Four and I will go look for him.¡± Seven said.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. ¡°What did you do Two?¡± Three asked. ¡°They are just dramatizing. I just jumped in, guns out and challenged them to fight a Mehai.¡± Two said. ¡°I still have just one unfinished business. Nexeer, come with me.¡± One looked at something in the distance, grabbed Nexeer and ran as fast as he could. Two and three followed them. He stopped a few paces from a human woman. She saw him, walked over to him and said. ¡°Do I know you?¡± One looked at her wide-eyed and hugged her. ¡°Lyala, I finally found you.¡± He held her tightly and a few tears ran down his face. ¡°Can you let go of me, please? You obviously know me but I don¡¯t know you.¡± the woman said. ¡°Nexeer, can I transfer my memories with the blue Astrum to her?¡± One asked. ¡°Yeah. You want to do that?¡± Nexeer asked. ¡°Yeah.¡± One said. ¡°But you¡¯ll be able to transfer only the memories of the two of you and the memories of you thinking about her.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°That¡¯s a start. Are you ok with that?¡± One asked the woman. ¡°It beats not knowing anything. So, yeah.¡± Nexeer put the blue Astrum between them and said. ¡°Put your foreheads on the Astrum and close your eyes.¡± They did as he said and the Astrum shined. As the singing stopped, the woman looked around confused. ¡°Exom, why are we here? What is this place?¡± She asked. One hugged her and said. ¡°It¡¯s a long story Lyala. I¡¯m gonna tell you all about it later.¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you? You¡¯re acting strange and you have gray hair. When did this happen?¡± Lyala asked. ¡°That¡¯s all that worries you?¡± One asked and laughed. ¡°No wonder I¡¯m the smart one.¡± He said and Lyala hit him in the ribs. ¡°I love family reunions.¡± Nexeer said standing beside them. Nexeer was shapeshifted into One. Without hesitation, One said. ¡°Two shoot him.¡± ¡°With pleasure.¡± Two took out one of her hidden guns and shot him between the eyes. Nexeer fell down on the floor. After a few seconds, he got up on his elbows, shook his head and massaged the bullet wound entrance. ¡°Why did you do that? That hurt.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°That was just a warning shot because you were shifted as me. If you ever shift as me again, Two will empty a whole mag into your head.¡± One said. ¡°You know that won¡¯t kill me.¡± Nexeer said. ¡°But it will hurt like hell.¡± One said. ¡°Point taken.¡± Nexeer said and shapeshifted into a random human. Seven was uploading their entire face recognition database to the fortress computer so the process of finding who the abducted people could start after they leave. As Seven was transferring the data, Two, Three and Four payed a visit to Zeddicus¡¯ treasury to collect some trinkets. It was a waste to leave them there just laying around when they could be put to such better use. After the data transfer was complete, they left the fortress, found Six sleeping in the Dagger, woke him up and looked at him disappointedly. ¡°Is that how you stay alert during a mission?¡± One said. ¡°I was bored. Did the plan work?¡± Six asked. ¡°Yeah. Are you questioning my abilities again?¡± Three said. ¡°No.¡± Six said. ¡°Then start the ship and let¡¯s go home.¡± One said. As they were flying to the Vulture, seven asked. ¡°So, who¡¯s our next target?¡± ¡°Come on Seven.¡± Two said. ¡°Leave it alone, at least for a month.¡± Three said. ¡°We are overdue for a vacation anyways.¡± Two said. ¡°Who are these people and why are they talking about targets?¡± Lyala asked. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you everything when we get home. Just have fun.¡± One said and kissed her on the cheek. The whole crew turned against him and One, sitting next to Lyala, just laughed, the first time in more than five years.