Dimension

by Shay Zana

  The head is flung off into the deep bushes, never to be seen again. She shoots him a narrow glare.

  Deo catches it, his pride of the kill and entertainment of butchering it gone under the whiplash of those stunning eyes. Now what has he done? There is no pleasing this bloody woman.

  Attempting to hide his confusion, Deo redirects his focus back to the bare canterpaw hanging at Boone’s whim, considering his next move. He cracks open the ribcage with a single dash of his blade, eviscerating the creature by dragging its innards and guts away in multiple snatches, careful not to pierce any organs where blood or bile will spoil the meat. He hesitates before disposing of the muck into the bush.

  He can feel her eyes burning into him.

  Awkwardly, unsure, and self-consciously, the Paragon kneels and places the guts on the ground ever so gently, as if lowering a fragile treasure. He risks a look her way, only to see her frowning at the bloody mess clear in sight to them all. Well what the hell does she want him to do with it!?

  Seeing the exasperation on his face, Kitera suddenly understands his motives. He is attempting to please her. But why?

  Still frowning, she paces past him, the thick jungle obscuring her as she wades a few metres away and stoops to the grassy soil. With her bare fingers, she paws at the ground, digging a small cavity and piling the dirt beside it. Eventually, with hands caked in muddy soil and grass stains, the dignified Cipher backtracks to retrieve the bloody guts, grabbing them before Deo can stop her and carrying them over to the pit. She simply plops them down, and recovers the hole with the mound of dirt.

  Now he feels stupid, and Boone’s snickering is not helping. Plucking the canterpaw from Boone, Deo gives him hooded eyes, driving him to sit back down with hands raised in surrender.

  As their chef gets to work at creating a makeshift spit, the others gather on the jungle floor, preparing to rest. As Kitera settles and lets herself relax, she notices Boone stir uncomfortably beside her.

  "Are you cold?" he whispers to her, feeling the usual chill of her presence whenever she reaches the Zodiacs, and wondering why the humid temperature and the shard flame counts for nothing.

  She shakes her head, wiping her bloody hands through the grass. "No, it is warm."

  "For you, maybe," Boone gives an amused snort, increasing the insulation in his vitasuit with a single thought.

  She gives a rare chuckle, knowing she brings a drop in temperature whenever she communes with the Zodiacs, mainly just because he would constantly complain about it whenever he was near her at those times. "I apologise. It will pass soon," she reassures quietly, her face falling from her smile.

  "No, no it's fine. It's just a quirk you have."

  "A quirk?"

  Tranquilized by the opportunity to rest, Boone slackens his limbs and lies back, shrugging his shoulders amongst the grass. "Yeah. Spending a lot of time with you for seven years has kinda forced me to get used to your presence... it's a good quirk." He tosses her a wink.

  Kitera joins him amongst the grass, feeling an oddly enchanting squelch of moist soil. She shifts her body to face him, resting her head on her forearm, unfazed by the collection of mud. “A good quirk...” she muses.

  She is grateful to have Boone’s fellowship. Of the team, he was the only one to have bothered getting to know her, and although she trusts the other Paragons, she has not spent much time with them, even in the seven years of travelling together. Perhaps she is the one at fault, avoiding them because of her preference to solidity, but she knows they have always avoided her too, due to her strange presence and mystery. "Others do not view it as just a quirk. My presence often invokes intimidation, even fear."

  "Well it was a bit full on to start with," he admits. "Feeling a chill to the bone and a funky vibe whenever you do... whatever it is you do, but I got over it." He also turns on his side to face her, though he can barely make out her features in the dark as her back is to the flame. "And they will too."

  She looks over to the others; Mazayus listening but pretending not to, Natheus standing on guard, and Deo hard at work on his task, his earchips glowing as he listens to music. He seems to be enjoying himself while he cooks. Odd.

  Now that they have been forced into a battle for survival on Olympus, they will all have to get used to each other’s presence, whereas aboard Altair, one could avoid company whenever they wanted. She feels excitement at the possibility of developing a deeper understanding of them, but also anxiety.

  "Deo will never become accustomed to my presence. He despised me the very moment we greeted," Kitera says openly, knowing that with the loudness of Deo's music, he cannot hear her.

  "Yeah, he hated me the moment he shook my hand," Boone recalls with a chuckle, thinking back to when the mission began and when they left Earth.

  Kitera pauses in thought for a second, also thinking of the past, and Earth. "We were so young at that time. It seems like a lifetime ago."

  "It does, yeah. With you being seventeen and me sixteen, I often wondered why the Zodiacs chose a couple of teenagers to set out on possibly the most important mission in human history."

  "We were young, yes, but we also had talent. You were, and still are, the most talented heavy weapons and explosives specialist in Serenity, the best the Paragons have to offer."

  “Heavyweight,” Boone corrects her title for him with a cheeky tone. “It’s the lingo the kids use these days.” Next he flexes a bicep to emphasis the title.

  “Apologies, my star warrior,” she counters with mock sincerity, purposefully straying from the official codename of PARAGON. “You are the most skilful heavyweight, not just by ranks and reports, but chosen by the Zodiacs... perhaps for other reasons besides combat capability.”

  Boone waits for her to explain her own level of skill, but she never does, she just falls silent. He watches her as she looks upward and through the cracks in the treetops, stargazing.

  Before Boone can inquire further, a mild rumble generates from below the ground, rattling the jungle softly, making Deo stop his music and look to Mazayus questioningly.

  The deep rumbling is further off now, calming.

  "Was that an explosion or an earthquake?" Deo asks, half serious.

  "I think it was an earthquake. We are near a frequently active fault line,” replies Mazayus, fully serious.

  "Right," Deo says, thankful that it was not a distant attack. "No more music for me then." He does not want to be deaf if they do get attacked, even under Natheus’ guard.

  As Deo goes back to preparing the canterpaw, Boone turns his attention back to the Cipher beside him, wondering if she knew that was about to happen. He recalls her once saying something about how her people were connected to the forces of nature.

  "And you?" he presses, wishing to continue their conversation. "You’re the most talented of the Ciphers, right?" He had always just assumed.

  Kitera looks back to him in a curious darting of her head, pressing her lips into a stern line before answering. "Not at all, I am merely an Acolyte, not yet experienced enough to be considered a Sage for my own people. Sages are a rank higher than Acolyte, and a rank beneath the Oracles, the highly revered leaders for my people. But despite my low status, I was chosen by the Zodiacs to embark on the pilgrimage.”

  That small sample of information is a blast to Boone’s ears. She has never answered any of his queries in such depth before. Although his heart races with the heightened state of curiosity, he manages to bite back his questions, able to perceive the importance of her words just by the low decibel of her whisper.

  Kitera watches Boone narrowly, noticing something odd in his eyes. Restraint? The way his eyes dance around, she knows he is deep in thought. “Speak your mind.”

  At that permission, Boone’s mouth explodes and he becomes overly animated. “Ok, well, why do the Ciphers hide from everyone? Even Paragons don’t know the faces of their Ciphers. Is it a trust issue or something?”

  “My people trust our Paragons implicitly, we
place the continuation of our existence in your hands. Without that trust, we would be transparent.

  “We live in solitude our entire lives, Boone. It is... frightening to leave isolation and be amongst the rest of humanity. Even leaving Earth for a pilgrimage to Nefnala through the distance of stars is frightening, even though we do not see others but ourselves. The threat of revelation is imbedded."

  Boone allows himself to press the topic. "So, what's it like living in isolation your whole life?"

  "Lonely and constricting... but it is the way it has to be."

  "Why, other than the fact that you’re afraid?"

  "Happenings of the past, our importance to humanity's current civilisation, protection, and the peace..."

  Boone frowns. "What happened in the past?"

  A sigh. "Our people are more evolved than homo-sapiens, our minds are more developed, more acute to transcendence, beyond the laws of the physical world. Many humans claim to have psychic abilities such as seeing the future or the spirits of the dead, but these are only the beginnings of humanity's full capabilities.

  “Homo-sapiens only use a fraction of their brainpower, and the people who have slightly wider capabilities, such as self proclaimed psychics, are the more evolved, the very beginnings, the forerunners to the future of humanity's full mental potential.

  “Ciphers began like these psychics too, but we were even more evolved, able to reach beings that are in the very apex of existence, the Zodiacs. Our evolution is so far ahead from the rest of humanity that our intellectual brainwaves alone can bring harm to humans that are not Ciphers. A more understandable explanation would be that our minds emit a harmful energy, like a neurochemical radiation. If we were to walk amongst the rest of humanity, our combined presence would kill anyone who came within a certain distance of us."

  The Paragons listen intently, all fascinated. Boone is still surprised by Kitera's openness. Several times he has asked these questions, but never gotten much more than a few words in answer.

  "Why?" he queries repetitively, wanting to take advantage of her openness.

  "We do not know. We presume the Zodiacs gave us our abilities to enable them to communicate with humanity, and with our abilities came the protection we needed from the rest of humanity. The Ancient Ciphers warned us of this danger, for it happened thousands of years ago, when humanity was still primitive on Earth. Nefnala - my people’s name for what you call Ciphers - hid from civilised existence. But eventually, our existence was revealed and also our... lethality to other humans."

  "So could you kill us now if you wanted to?"

  Kitera hints at a laugh. "No, the presence of a single Cipher is not adequate to kill another human, but if you were to encounter a group of us, maybe five, then with our combined presence your body would be purged of your spirit."

  "Why?”

  She stares at him a moment before frowning. “Why what?”

  “If the Zodiacs gave you this neurochemical evolution for protection from us, then why isn’t it powerful enough to just protect one Cipher? Each individual Cipher is important, right?”

  “Perhaps because our destiny was isolation. The ways of nature are not always explainable.”

  “But the Zodiacs control nature, right?”

  “Wrong. The Zodiacs created nature, but they do not dictate it. That would be defeating the purpose of natural evolution. They guardian nature, such as guiding humanity, a species that has the power to destroy it.”

  “But they gave you your evolution,” Boone reminds her, failing to understand.

  Kitera knows this contradictory fact. “Yes... my people have pondered over that fact for generations. Our evolution was not natural, this we know. We just do not know why.”

  Boone ponders for a moment, many thoughts rushing through his mind like a hive of activity, all evolving into potential questions.

  "Are you human?" Deo beats him to the punch, and Kitera is surprised by his curiosity, his interest in her people. For a moment she just gazes at him.

  "My body is. Much of our true selves are not physical."

  "So are Ciphers... Nefnala, like gods too? But able to take physical form?" Boone regains the reins.

  "No, not gods. The Zodiacs are the gods, we Ciphers are merely their children, their angels. Demigods, if you will. Part physical, and part spirit; a hybrid of the two. Someday we may evolve to be gods and transcend the physical world entirely, but that day is not in sight with our failings to guide the whole of humanity."

  “Your people cannot be held responsible for the UEU’s choices,” Mazayus joins.

  She merely looks at him with haunted eyes for a moment. “War is the result of our failure.”

  At that, Mazayus falls silent once more, a pang of regret shooting through him, as if the failure of humanity’s harmony was his burden.

  The silence is foul in the air as it lingers.

  Boone recharges tenderly. "Kiya... how come you’re telling us all this now? You’ve always been so caged.”

  And her recovery is a gathering breath. "Our existence has been kept secret throughout my entire ancestry. It is in my nature to keep our culture hidden... I think for purposes that we have now forgotten. I have never met any others whom I thought I could trust with this." For her, telling them about the history or her people is like revealing all of her secrets, secrets that are not hers to reveal. Forbidden secrets. Throughout her entire life, she has never felt as close with anyone like she does with these Paragons, and although she does not get along with all of them, and some of them are wary of her, she still feels a strong bond with them, and trusts them with her life, especially after the recent events. They could all die tomorrow, and so she feels she owes them her sincerity. She just hates that it has taken until now for her to realise this.

  "You can trust us, Kitera," Mazayus reassures. He looks to the other three, and they confirm. Boone gives her a light touch on the shoulder, Natheus gives a tight nod, and Deo, as her eyes meet his, lingers his gaze, eyes alight in the shard flame.

  "Nemura. Thank you," she replies appreciatively, both in her own language, and theirs.

  They fall silent for a time, minds thriving with new knowledge of the most mysterious race humanity has ever known. Messiah will sleep for only a few more hours.

  Deo is still waiting for the canterpaw to cook. He had made a spit with a few nearby broken branches and set the shard flame to rotate around it. He now appears to be stargazing as he lies flat on his back, his hands resting back behind his head. Mazayus reads about Olympus on his datakey’s database. Boone and Kitera lay side-by-side and are also stargazing, and Natheus is standing perfectly still, his Parallel poised comfortably in his hands.

  The air is quiet and still, and the only sounds to be heard are the roasting fire and the soft rustling of the wind sweeping through the leaves.

  "...So are Paragons more advanced than regular humans?" Boone suddenly asks Kitera, growing bored of the silence.

  She glances at him quickly, the question seemingly fired from nowhere. "Yes, both synthetically through cybernetic implants, and biologically through your symbiosis with your entities. Your minds have been trained extensively to accommodate for an entity. The ability to harness and manipulate collective microscopic particles of energy from stars is beyond anyone without the training and mental capability, and in a way, you all have your own stars inside of you, flowing through your blood, but you are still human.

  “Without your entity, you cannot perform your Sacrifice and create a star within a star, so installing this foreign consciousness into your own consciousness was necessary. But Serenity would never contaminate their people with engineered genetics and evolution. The entities and any of your cybernetic enhancements will not carry over to your offspring, and can always be deactivated when you wish it. They are not permanent like those of the UEU enhancements. Humanity must be free to evolve on its own accord, the way nature intends."

  He shakes his head. "Yeah, I know we’re super
ior to other humans, but I mean are we superior... evolution-wise,” he struggles to express himself. “Is that why the Zodiacs choose us before we are born?"

  Kitera hums in understanding. "No, you are at the same level of evolution as the rest of humanity. You are homo sapiens. Paragons are chosen for being genetically superior. Naturally genetically superior. The Zodiacs detect all of these traits before your birth, but other than your great genetic structures, all other attributes in you are created during the inanimate growth process. Your genetic superiority remains natural, as it should be for all of humanity."

  "But then the UEU goes and ruins that..." Boone adds coldly.

  "Yes, the Universal Eden Union does not respect our ways and engineers humanity to their own liking, fumbling in their experiments and creating mutations and diseases that plague entire populations. We have the technology, yes, but that does not mean we should act on it. With such intelligence must also come restraint, respect, and discipline.

  “That is why the rise of humanity is to some, a flaw in nature. We are so powerful that we can destroy nature, destroy the very thing that gave us our lives, disrupt the balance of the natural way. Humanity is selfish and destructive, but with such intelligence comes the ability to learn, and we have learned from our mistakes... a portion of us have."

  Boone nods in agreement. "This war will end one day, Kiya. You'll see."

  "I cannot see it ending in our lifetime, but yes, it will one day." She shifts onto her back again, staring up at the treetops and sighting a few stars through the overgrowth. "But for now, we need to focus on our mission, and what we can do here, in our lifetimes."

  With the scorching heat of the shard flame circling the stationary spit, the canterpaw is soon roasted and fully cooked. Deo, who has surprised the others with his interest in preparing the canterpaw, fades the shard flame and places it back into his utility pouch.

  He begins to cut the creature’s flesh with the blade of his Phoenix. The exotic and intricate weapon; designed by the Ciphers themselves, morphs from its initial rifle form into a long blade. Deo begins to serve a portion of the blue meat to each of his crew members.