As she ate she murmured toward me, “Well played... well played...”
Chapter 13 – Harness
I started counting days by the bodies I was stacking up rather than referring to my Verr. After one hundred and twenty, or four months. Things were different. No longer was there a Hafling in the room to pull me to my feet so I could kill him. I half grinned, she had reached a breaking point where I had dwindled the ranks of the Halflings to the point she didn't want to lose anymore. She could no longer breed any more to replace them since she no longer had the Olympians on board. I'm sure they could clone some more, their technology would allow that but they didn't for some reason.
From my daily talks with Thea, as she cleaned the blood from me and tended to my wounds, it had something to do with sentience. The Olympians, and now the Asgard, were the only experiments out of tens of millions of biological weapons created by either the Frost Giants or the Titans, that had attained sentience.
All of their countless calculations over millennia showed that it should not be possible, you cannot engineer self-awareness. All of the dumb hybrid beasts they have had to outfit with battle computers to make them usable weapons demonstrated that. So it had to be something else, not even just a random aberration of the design would account for it.
Then to top it off, the Asgard had stumbled upon creating two new sentient artificial intelligence species with the Verr and Sky.
With all of their seemingly unlimited intelligence, from the way Thea spoke, they were afraid of breaking whatever accident had created that sentience. By breeding directly with the Olympians, they were able to progenerate the Halflings, who maintained that sentience. They were however not against cloning of any of the lower species they had created in their labs for use as hybrid weapons.
It was a little bit of a shock to me when I had realized that it came down to fear and an almost moral decision not to. The idea that the Titan's had something that passed for morals was hard to grasp. But then again, Thea has sort of become my champion against Rhea's treatment of me. Rhea sees it as an amusing addition to her games.
That morning Rhea had just sat down in her throne and just stared at me for a while after the tether switched to her. I caught her eyes narrowing a bit when I realized that there was no Halfling in the chamber. She didn't like my realization of my small victory.
Then she stood and stepped beside me and sat on the step up to her throne and motioned her eyes down to the step. I remained standing and she half chuckled as she shook her head almost sadly. “It is not an order stubborn little Valkyrie. I wish to speak plainly with you.”
I locked eyes with her, trying to read her, then nodded slightly and sat beside her. She looked up at the slightly glowing seamless ceiling then took a breath and said, “Before we speak let me ask you again to join me in our fight against the Jotunn. Help us rid this realm of their tyranny... or give me access to your nanites.”
I shook my head and she smiled at the ceiling then looked down at me. “Then I am sorry for what comes next my precious pet.” She made a clicking noise and a holo-display appeared in front of us. Thea lowered her head in shame where she stood by the door.
A hybrid, not unlike the dinosaurs down on the planet appeared on the display. She pointed and the battle computer that was wired into the beast's nervous system and brain was highlighted. She nodded at it. “This is how we and the Jotunn get the lesser beasts of our creation to do our bidding. I have tried to be patient with you, let your primitive mind come to the conclusion that helping me, helps you and your kind. But you leave me little choice, as Thea has pointed out, we cannot break you, you are too stupid to learn from your punishments. So it is time to take the decision away from you.”
I stared at the highlighted apparatus as it swung up and shrank and appeared to attach to a representation of me. I could feel the blood drain from my face. From what I was reading, they have had the device ready for months. I didn't let on that I had learned their language and writing within the first few days of my arrival here. I had been studying their systems and controls that they just had on display as they operated them unaware that I was learning and understood much of what I was seeing.
She caught my despondent look and smiled almost cruelly at my realization. Then she looked over at the other Titan. “Thea has been trying to figure out a way around your skeletal structure so that we could connect the harness to you. At first we couldn't determine while your bones might crack, why they would not fully break. And we were not able to drill into your skull to attach the harness after I had beaten you unconscious for your defiance.”
My eyes widened at the fact they had tried to drill into my skull. She smirked and continued, “Our scans of your body always come out partially scrambled because of that naughty race of nanites that we can't seem to fully suppress. But then we got lucky when I had exposed part of your skull when I had punished you and she was able to see a mesh of our Mithreal armor alloy suffused in your bones. She is just a few of your days away from determining how to get past the Mithreal without killing you.”
Then she tilted her head. “Then you will be our puppet and you will fight for us. I would have preferred you do it willingly as then we could tap into your full knowledge and battle skills, but this will have to suffice.”
Then she cocked an eyebrow. “Oh don't look so sad. It is your own fault. We need to collect some breeders from other Titan vessels so that we can replenish our supply of Titanspawn. If you hadn't killed so many, we could have played the game for much longer, and you do so keep me entertained.”
It was my turn to cock and eyebrow, this was the first time they referred to the Halflings as anything but pets. So they are Titanspawn, and they see them as something more than the pets. An accidental admission. I chided myself for even caring about that when they were planning on robbing me of my free will.
I told my Verr in my mind, “I will not allow that to happen. If they attempt it, we will defeat the collar and fight to our death, taking as many of the krothing Titans with us as we can. I am sorry I have failed you and not found a means of escape.”
They responded with a feeling of fierce determination and love for me as a message dimly scrolled across my vision from them, “We shall fight and die with our charge, Fire Soul. If this is our end, we will go out in glory.” My pride for them had no end.
My gaze hardened and I glared defiantly at her and said in a dangerous tone, “You do what you have to do, and I shall do the same.”
She regarded me for a few seconds then nodded her head once almost imperceptibly. She seemed sad and she reached over and laid a massive arm over my shoulder and we just sat there silently for at least an hour. Knowing that in the end, either she or I would be dead. Again it struck me that she knew it was inevitable and it saddened her. Was I, just now, near the end, staring to understand their ambiguous morals? Though subtle, they did exist, even though they acted as though they could not act upon them.
Then Rhea removed her arm from me and stood and just started walking away. The tether just melted away though the collar was still energized. Was she trying to be nice to her doomed pet? She said to Thea, “Bring her to my quarters for mid-day meal after exercise. Just walk her today.”
As Thea got in range, the tether snapped to life and we walked out into the main corridors. There wasn't much traffic as I had probably halved the numbers of Titanspawn. We walked about a mile in silence to the mostly unused aft section of the vessel that had a harmonic hum that always filled the air this close to the massive engines.
She looked around and we stepped into a familiar corridor and she deactivated the tether as we walked a quarter mile through the small tunnel through the huge slab of Mithreal armor to an airlock. The only place to actually see the stars from the vessel. I looked out over creation and saw the warping and bending of the light of the stars toward the engines as whatever they used to power the vessel warped the fabric of space near the engines.
There wer
e ten of these airlocks dispersed evenly around the vessel. She explained that they were from before the before, when they had small scout ships to explore all of existence before the war began. These airlocks had been unused and almost forgotten in all those eons.
We both sat on the bench with the formed seat-rests, I must have looked like a small child in a large seat as we looked out. I looked past the nearby asteroid field, that looked like a dusty cloud, to a pinprick of greenish-blue light. Ragnarok.
A couple weeks back, whenever we were alone, Thea would deactivate the tether, though she still left the collar active, and we would talk. Not as Titan to pet, but as two people sharing experiences. She was amazed at the stories I told her of the different worlds I have seen, and all the beauty and wonder they offer.
Their original realm was not like this one, it was constructed of energy and mass commingling in a void, the exact center of that realm had something that would loosely resemble a world. It is where the Frost Giants had willed themselves into existence according to The Firsts, Ymir, and Rhea. They procreated to create the thousand Jotunn and thousand Titans. There had to be a balance because they found that only a Titan could create the new lives.
There were ruins in that mass in the middle of the realm, left by the Ones Who Came Before.
The Jotunn had no concept of time, they just were, they were eternal in their realm. It wasn't until experiments created a dimension of time that different ideas about their existence came to be. Ymir had asked Thea if there were more worlds in the realm than this one, what they must be like. The other eight realms they had visited were all different but the same. They even found life in a couple of them.
So Thea had come up with a design for our realm and said that that was what she had envisioned for it. With countless worlds and countless possibilities. Ymir commissioned her to work on refining it.
The Jotunn had started treating the Titans differently when one realm with an inferior race defied Ymir's rule and were erased them from existence, sterilizing that realm. Ymir didn't want that to happen again so the Frost Giants started patrolling the realms with twenty ships each with twenty men and women on board.
He wanted to create more of our race so that we could more easily patrol the endless expanses in the nine realms. Rhea and the Titans disagreed with that. He wanted to use the Titans like animals to breed an army. An unneeded army, as there was none that could stand against them.
So Rhea had Thea take her plans and execute them. They depleted almost all of the energy from their realm but spawned a new universe and the Titans fled into to hide in the new infinite universe.
Now here, I was again telling Thea about the endless wonders on Earth this time, showing her what her concept of planets had birthed. I finished, “And all of those cultures have come together in mutual support. War is almost a foreign concept as all of the races across the worlds live in peace with each other after long last.” I smirked. “So in a way, we should thank the Titans and Jotunn. You made peace possible with the threat of a greater war against advanced enemies.”
She was shaking her head. “So much diversity, so many new things and new concepts to learn. And that is just six worlds, there are almost endless possibilities now in this realm. I long to see these wonders with my own eyes. Thank you for sharing this with me.”
I nodded at that and almost cruelly said, “Not that I'll ever be able to share anything with you in the future after you enslave me with that harness, making me the mindless beast you believe me to be.”
Her eyes dropped from the display of stars in the viewport. “It is not my choice.”
I shrugged. “Yet you still do it. You are just as much a slave as you are going to make of me. Why not use your free will to defy your Rhea?”
She looked at me as if I were simple. “She is our Queen, since before the before. It is how it has always been. We are eternal.”
I shook my head. “You almost sound brainwashed Thea. Every being has a right to live their lives the way they want to. You are naught but a vessel for Rhea's will. Fight for what you believe.”
She said more to herself than to me, “I cannot.” She was lost in thought as I turned back to the window to stare at Ragnarok so far away. Then she absently asked, “Are there truly that many wonders on the worlds you have visited?”
I nodded and then looked up at her. “Come with me, help me escape Rhea's grasp and I will show you those wonders and more. We can show you how to live again instead of only exist.”
She shook her head again though her eyes did glitter. “I cannot as much as I may wish to. In a few days, I will have to outfit you with the harness.”
I nodded and said sadly as I laid against her arm to let her know I did not blame her. “I know Thea, and before you can, I must either escape or die while doing as much damage and taking out as many Titans as I can while doing it.”
Her aura, which had been taking on a bluish hue as the months marched on wavered and I saw tears welling in her copperish eyes. She whispered, “I know.” Then she stood. “Time to feast with Rhea Kara.”
I nodded and we stood and started the silent walk back, the tether sprang to life as we re-entered the main corridors.
Chapter 14 – Escape
Rhea had not called for me since that meal. I started sleeping on the floor in Thea's chambers instead of the cage in Rhea's quarters after that. It was as if Rhea didn't want to be near me and reminded about what she was about to subject me to. I stayed with Thea at all times, watching her fine tune the harness and battle computer they were going to attempt to graft to me.
That was until that morning. We were summoned for an audience and showed up and Rhea just sat on her throne and ordered Thea, “Install the harness.” She stood and strode out of the chamber saying over her wrist console, “Pets, prepare to leave this system for rendezvous with the fleet.”
I just stared up at Thea as we walked silently toward her workshop. We stopped in the crossing of the corridor between one of the airlock tunnels and her workspace. I reached up and tore the collar from my neck as the Verr deactivated it. I felt power rushing into me and my healing kicked into overdrive. I could feel the scars from the months of abuse stitching and healing into undamaged skin as my Verr attacked the hairline fractures that they hadn’t been able to adequately address.
Thea didn't even blink at me or make a move to stop me. Instead, I was taken off guard by her smile as I pulled up my nano-lattice and started gathering the power of Thor in my cupped right hand. She almost chuckled. “You could have done that at any time couldn't you have?”
I hesitated at her lack of aggression and nodded. “I was trying to devise an escape plan. I almost have your transport grid figured out, but it appears to be locked out.”
She nodded. “Rhea encoded the transport terminals the moment we had exchanged you for the other pets, just in case you were clever enough to attempt an escape.” Then she tilted her head. “You... you can read our language?”
I nodded. “Yes, my Verr had it figured out within days of my imprisonment.” She looked amazed. Then I frowned. “I'm sorry but I could not allow you to enslave me. My only choice it to fight and die on my own terms. I truly do not wish to harm you Thea.”
She nodded and said somberly, “I know Kara, and I can not bring myself to do that to you.”
I said, “Then help me escape.”
She shook her head. “I cannot break Rhea's encryption on the transport terminals.”
I blinked, she really would have helped? I looked at the narrow corridor to the airlock and started moving that way indicating for her to follow, but keeping the power of Thor ready in case she made a move. “All I need to do is to get to your quantum entanglement tunnel, my people will do the rest.”
She looked at me, her face furrowing in question. “Your people? How can they possibly assist or even know you are attempting escape.”
I smiled. “You do not know my people. I just need to get out there.”
I shook my head. “I'm more durable than you might believe, I'm no stranger to the harshness of space. And I do not plan on dying... again. I've tried that once and it didn't suit me. I can survive for about ninety seconds before I run out of oxygen in my lungs.”
We arrived at the airlock and looked at the shimmering dot in the distance that was the event horizon of the space bridge almost one thousand miles away. She said, “I can disable the weapons array for approximately sixty of your seconds. That intrusion would lock out every system on the ship from this location. You would need to gain a velocity of around twenty-seven hundred meters per second. I can give you an initial kinetic boost with the gravity systems, but it would not be enough.
I brought my hand up with energy arcing between my fingers. “Leave that to me.” Then I looked at the woman. “Come with me?”
She shook her head. “I cannot.”
Then I felt movement under my feet, the familiar sensation of inertial compensators pulling against me to negate the motion of a space-faring vessel. It was too late! But then there was a horrendous explosion and the mammoth vessel shook. Alarms and klaxons started blaring as the ship shuddered again. Gravity fluctuated for a moment. The ever present hum of the engines sounded wrong, strained as they brought the ship to a full stop.
Thea was at a console scanning the data. “This cannot be possible, the Quantum Gateway destabilized and collapsed, part of the ship was sheared off on the other side of the gateway.”
I smiled, that would be either Father, Loki, or Arina's doing. They were not going to allow the Titans to leave with me on board. This reinforced my faith that they would be waiting on the other side of the space bridge. I smiled. “Do not underestimate us Asgard.”
Valkyrie Chronicles 4 & 5 Bundle Page 29