by Charles Case
Seena’s eyes fluttered open. She was lying on her back, staring up at a dark sky full of stars. The view was more brilliant than anything she had ever seen looking up from a planet’s surface. This was closer to what you would see if you were in a ship out in interplanetary space, but even more so. The graceful arch of the galaxy played out in front of her, so dense and bright that individual stars were almost lost in its brilliance.
Seena blinked a few times, making sure the view wasn’t a figment of her imagination, but the view persisted. There was a dull pain in her hip. When she reached down and felt the skin there it was unblemished, and more importantly, implant-free. She sighed in relief and tried to sit up but she was still weak, and the effort was more than it was worth. Instead, she lay there staring up at the stars.
She stayed that way for what felt like an eternity, or might have been only a few seconds, when a voice spoke out of the darkness.
“Hello, Seena. How do you feel?” The voice was soft, but firm in its enunciation. Seena thought she recognized it.
“Gert? Is that you?” Her voice was barely a whisper.
“It is, child. Now that the evil device is gone, I was able to fully bond with you. I am using what little power I have to heal you.”
Seena tried again to sit up. This time, she was able to manage it, although barely. Her eyes went wide when she saw that she was not lying on the ground but floating amongst the stars. She put a hand to the “ground” and felt a solid surface, but the never-ending star field beneath her was disconcerting.
“Where am I?” Seena asked, groggily.
“We are in a vision I have prepared for you. I am sorry if this is disorienting, but it is the best way to tell this story.” Gert paused as if considering her next words carefully. “Leela informed me that she has told you and Corbin of the invaders, the Kubla. I feel that she has not shown you all there is to see. Each of us will have gaps in our memories after so much time without our bodies, and I believe a little context is in order for you two to understand the stakes we are fighting for.”
“Okay. Context is good, I suppose.” Seena bit her lip and felt her hip once again. The pain was still there in a dull background sort of way, but it was lessening with each passing moment. “ So, how is this going to…”
Seena’s voice trailed off as the stars whirled around her and zoomed in on a particularly large one, and the system around it. Her head swam from the movement, but she shook it off and focused on what she was seeing.
“This is what you know as the VRC system, the one we are in now. However, this is what it looked like many thousands of years ago during the height of my people’s reign here.”
Seena saw the resemblance once it was pointed out, but without the black hole orbiting the star it looked odd. And there was an extra planet that orbited where Nhi usually was.
“We were advanced, and for the most part beyond war amongst ourselves. Criminal elements persisted, but they were not on a national scale by any means. Most everyone had gained at least a modicum of power from our relationship with the metal. I say that to show that while we were not warlike, we were able to protect and police ourselves.”
The starscape whirled again and the planet Cinder filled Seena's view. The planet was dotted with massive cities and huge expanses of green surrounded by massive oceans twice the size they were now.
“The planet you call Cinder was our homeworld. We were born on the warm planet, and eventually covered the entire surface with our cities and nature preserves. It was a paradise for our people.”
The view changed again, this time to Rush. There were cities covering this planet as well, although there were far fewer of them and much more wilderness than on Cinder.
“The planet you call Rush. It was our first venture out from our homeworld, and took many centuries to terraform. My people spread out and began to leave the small-mindedness that a single-world society has and began to embrace the idea of something larger.”
The perspective shifted once again.
“Our final grand project. Vale, the coldest and least desirable of our planets. However, we saw its potential to mine resources and expand our science, so we inhabited this third planet in our small empire.”
Seena was reeling at how large and powerful this society was. Their cities were far more advanced than anything humanity had built in its long history. She wondered how anything could destroy such an advanced people.
“We were curious, and science was almost a religion to our people. We studied everything, so when an anomaly appeared near the closest planet to our star we were intrigued.”
A small rocky planet came into view. It was barren, and gleamed in the light of the large star. Hanging above the planet was what looked like a rip in space—something so black that it stood out in its emptiness.
“We had a research station on the planet, but as soon as the anomaly appeared all communication with the base went dead. We sent a science vessel to investigate, but they vanished as well. The second ship sent was a military ship. We maintained a military in case of external invasion, but it was small and barely more than a token force. But, what ships we did have were advanced and hardened beyond anything else in our fleets. That ship vanished as well, but not before it sent back word of an invasion force unlike anything we had ever seen.”
The view pulled back and showed the entire system. The planet closest to the sun was highlighted, quickly followed by Vale and Rush.
“Within a month, we had been driven back to our homeworld. Billions had died in a relentless assault by monsters that showed no mercy, and would not open any form of dialog. We fortified our cities and fought, but there was no stopping the hoard of golems our enemy sent after us. We became desperate, and many plans were formed. We learned that the wind golems were not the Kubla themselves, but their constructs. We never saw the enemy in person, instead fighting off their minions by the millions. Eventually, a plan was formulated. We sent our most powerful gravity manipulators on a secret mission that took them far behind enemy lines. The plan was simple; create a small singularity that would collapse the wormhole they used to travel to our system.
“It was theorized that if we could collapse the anomaly on our side then the power used to hold the portal open would travel back to its origin and destroy their entire system.”
Seena’s head spun as her perspective rushed in until the rip in space filled her vision. A warping of the fabric of space appeared in the center of the blackness. It looked like ripples on the surface of a pitch black lake but instead of rippling out, they traveled in toward a point at their center. The ripples traveled faster as more and more of them appeared. Soon, the entire center of the rip in space was flashing and pulsing. Suddenly, the rip collapsed but the ripples persisted.
“Our people overestimated how much it would take to close the portal, and the unthinkable happened.”
The rippling space was suddenly covered by a blackness that hurt the eye. It was as if a hole in reality had opened. It grew rapidly, igniting space around it in a brilliantly white explosion.
Pulling back, Seena watched the white hot shockwave travel through the system. It hit the sun and made it flare as the top layer was stripped away. Then, one by one, each planet side facing the anomaly burned, leaving only the darkest sides in some semblance of order.
“The attack destroyed my people and the enemy alike, or so we thought. The only thing to survive was the small rocky planet closest to the newly-formed black hole. It had been spared the blast by being close enough to be inside the initial singularity, but far enough away that when it collapsed into a black hole it was now stuck in a tight orbit. And there they wait. Stuck in a time dilation so severe that only a few years have passed on that small planet, while the rest of the universe has marched thousands of years into the future. But they are coming. And when they do, they will spread out into the galaxy like a plague of locusts, consuming all they come across.
“And so, I have but one question for you, See
na Lieu. What would you do to such an enemy?”
Seena watched the destruction of everything Gert had ever known, and felt the enormity of the enemy that was still there and coming for them. They truly were like a plague, able to make more of themselves and knowing nothing but destruction and consuming their enemies. There was only one thing to do to such a threat.
“I would utterly destroy them.” Seena’s voice was quiet, but it carried the weight of a promise.
“Then we are agreed. I will do all in my power to help you in this endeavor.”
6
Corbin watched as the wound on Seena's hip finally started to close. Watching the metal flow into the gaps before the process started was a little disconcerting, but he remembered the times he had caught a glint of the silver substance in his own wounds early on.
Seena was healing, but at a much slower rate than Corbin would have liked. He felt for her pulse. It was stronger than it had been, which he took as a good sign, and sat back with his knees up and arms wrapped around them.
“They’ll be fine now that they’ve bonded. You don't need to worry.” Leela’s words were meant as comfort and he took them that way, but he was still upset that she needed to go through such a slow healing. That reminded him that they still didn't know if there was another group of Lieu troopers on the way or not.
If they could track our implants, then maybe they can track our tablets, he thought.
Glancing down at the tablet strapped to his forearm, he thought about destroying them right then and there, but then he saw the two implants flashing on the floor.
If they can already track us through those, then making a call now wouldn't exactly get them anything new. They already know we’re here.
Making his decision, he found Lawrence’s number and hit ‘Send.’ The call only rang once before Lawrence’s holographic image materialized. He was sitting at his desk, his face a mask of worry.
“Corbin. Man, I thought you might be dead.” Lawrence was nearly frantic. “I think there is a dropship on its way to you and Seena.”
Corbin gave him a toothy grin. “They already got here. And, before you ask, we took care of them. I’m surprised you didn't give us a heads up.”
Lawrence scratched his head in exasperation. “I was just about to call you. I didn't know until about two minutes ago, and I wanted to be sure that Ren had put the network security protocol on your tablets. Luckily, she has it up and running.”
“So our tablets aren’t going to give away our position?”
“Nope. As far as the network is concerned, you two don't exist.” Lawrence grinned as if he had done the programming himself. “It’s actually a brilliant security hack. It gives random locations for your tablets that change every thirty seconds. It doesn't work on Rush and Vale, yet, but Ren is working on it. We should have something in a day or two.”
Corbin sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Well, that’s one less thing to worry about. How are things going with our rebel friends? Anything new to report?”
Lawrence’s cheeks puffed out with a breath as he raised both eyebrows. “Oh, man. So much. First of all, they started sending the video of the supers out to everyone they could. It’s basically making the rounds just shy of a public broadcast. The governments on Rush and Vale are on top of it, saying the video is faked, but there’s quite a bit of unrest in the normie population.”
“What about here on Cinder?”
“It’s not much better, but compared to the other two planets, Cinder is much easier to control. There just aren’t that many people here. Plus, everyone works for the corporation, and it’s not like they can go long without support. We don't exactly have a self-sustaining colony here with our food coming from off planet. There’s a lot of grumbling but not a lot of action.”
Corbin glanced over at Seena, checking to see how far along the healing process was. The wound was closed, but still had silvery metal filling in the gaps. She twitched every so often, and Corbin took that as a good sign.
He glanced back at Lawrence. “Anything else?”
“Oh, yeah. Big time. I’ve been doing some digging now that my terminal access is masked by Ren and her people. I’ve found some pretty disturbing stuff that’s being pushed forward in the government on Vale. I don't have much more than memos at this point, but there is a very real movement to make normies second class citizens.”
“That’s already happening, Lore.” Corbin laughed. “It’s the whole point of the rebellion.”
“No, I mean that there are laws coming down the line that will make it official. Nothing that states it outright, but when you really see what they’re proposing it’s pretty grim. I’m in the process of getting official paperwork to Mara but it’s going to take the better part of a day. In the meantime, we’re trying to contact the normie politicians who we hope are not completely bought by supers.”
Seena’s head rolled to the side, and her eyes fluttered slightly before closing again. Corbin leaned over her and saw that her breathing was speeding up. Her head rolled the other way. In Corbin's estimation, she was definitely coming around.
“I need to go, Lore.” He rolled to his knees and felt for Seena's pulse. “Let me know if anything comes up. We’re out in the wind, here. We need a plan.”
“Oh, that reminds me.” Lawrence flipped through some screens on his arm tablet. “I got a message from Mara about an official from something called the Citadel coming to the VRC. I haven’t seen anything about it here at Lieu Corp, but she seemed pretty adamant that it was a big deal. She wanted me to tell you that she would be sending them your way once she talked with them.”
Corbin cocked an eyebrow. “What’s the Citadel?”
“I have no idea. I’ve never heard of it.” Lawrence shrugged.
“Okay, well if they can find us out here in wilds, then they’re welcome to chat my ear off. I need to go, but Lore,” Corbin made eye contact to be sure Lawrence heard him, “be careful. You’re in the heart of the beast, there. I don't want to get a message that you’ve disappeared.”
“Don't worry about me, Corbin. I have several levels of security now that Ren is working with me. Besides, with Seena gone, they put me in charge of our department, so I have very little oversight.” He cracked a smile. “And after the beat down you laid on William, they’re a little preoccupied, here. I’ll be fine, I promise.”
Corbin flashed a smile. “Well, if they start closing in on you, get out. It’s helpful to have someone on the inside but we can make it without. I would rather see you safe than dead.”
“Thanks, man. I’ll look out for myself. Be safe out there, man.”
Corbin cut the call with a wave to Lawrence and turned to Seena, who was slowly blinking up at the ceiling. “Hey there, sleepy head. How do you feel?”
She blinked once, slowly, before focusing on Corbin's smiling face. “I feel like I’ve had a chunk of metal carved out of me.”
Corbin barked a laugh. “Funny story about that.”
She laughed, then groaned. “Ow, stop that. It hurts.” She reached down and felt the wound, which was closed with metal but still sore. She sucked in a breath when her fingers touched the slightly swollen area. “Gert says it’s going to take a few more hours before I’m at a hundred percent.”
Corbin tenderly brushed the hair from her forehead, smearing the half-dried blood from the last time he had done so. “We need to get out of here. I don't want to wait around while the Corp sends another strike team.”
She reached up and put her arms around his neck. “If you want me to go anywhere, you’re going to have to carry me, big boy.”
He smiled and slid his arms under her. “It would be my pleasure, little lady.”
She laughed, then groaned in pain as he lifted her. “Sorry. I’ll try and jostle you as little as possible. Are we sure that I can't just heal you now?”
Seena shook her head emphatically. “Gert says that by healing me herself we will be able to speed up the conve
rsion process. A few hours of pain is worth cutting days from our advancement.”
Corbin cocked his head in thought. “I wonder if that helped me and Leela bond. I did get the shit beat out of me a few times.”
“It did.”
“Probably,” Seena echoed.
Corbin laughed at the chorus and glanced down at Seena's blood-smeared face. “I’m going to get you back to the OVAL and clean you up. I don't know if you know this, but bloody is not a good look for you. At least, not to me.”
She smiled and rested her head on his chest as he started the long walk back.
7
Corbin gently laid Seena on the bottom bunk in the OVAL, careful not to jostle her any more than needed. Despite his gentleness, she winced slightly when her leg touched the thin mattress.
“Sorry,” he apologized with a wince of his own.
“It’s fine. I actually feel much better. Give me a few minutes to rest and you can help clean me up.” She patted his arm and laid back on the small pile of pillows he had situated behind her.
“Okay. I’m going to go check out the dropship, just to be sure there are no more troopers waiting for us.”
“Good idea. Be careful.”
He smiled at her and squeezed her hand. “I will. Get some rest.”
Ducking out the small door, Corbin took the retractable steps two at a time. Blinking up at Trac and Nhi, he pulled out his auto-tinting goggles and put them on. He pulled his pistol and thumbed the safety off, then started toward the large dropship parked a few hundred yards from the cave, out in the open.
Lieu Corp dropships were multi-use vehicles. They had stubby delta wings attached to the top of a two-story fuselage. Each dropship could be outfitted for the particular mission it was deployed on. This one had two large machine gun turrets attached under each wing, but Corbin could see that they weren’t powered up, and were still in the locked position. The nose of the craft was pointed toward him, so he couldn't see if the back ramp was down or not.