by Amanda Rose
“Wise counsel, indeed,” Saaya said to them, “we’ll begin working on arrangements for the debris to be taken further from the station. Your work on this mission was exemplary, both of you. Which brings us to our last point of business today. Raiden, it did not go unnoticed by Xan, or this council, that your actions contributed to the direct success of this mission. You acted with valor in the face of the unknown and saved the Bastion from a direct collision which could have been catastrophic. In light of these heroic actions, it is with great honor that I extend to you an invitation to become a member of the elite Black Shadow.”
Raiden stood momentarily speechless. He felt conflict within himself. He had always been, and always imagined being, a pilot for the Saisei. He felt like a protector to his ship, and yet ever since they’d arrived at the Bastion, he’d felt like that responsibility was much less dire. He also couldn’t imagine leaving the Bastion. He knew the Saisei would eventually disembark to pursue colonization in some nearby system, which wasn’t much of a life for a pilot.
“Permanent quarters will be provided to you on the Bastion, and you’ll be assigned your own ship, should you accept,” Zar told Raiden with a small smile on his face.
“…I accept,” Raiden said, exhilarated. He couldn’t help feeling a pang of guilt, like he was abandoning his ship, but deep down he knew he wanted this more than anything else he had ever wanted in his life.
“Congratulations!” Xan’s cheery excitement overcame her.
“Yes, Congratulations!” Ent said, and everyone in the room clapped. Raiden could feel himself blushing, but he didn’t care, he was so overcome with joy.
“Go enjoy some free time you two,” Zar smiled, “We’ll inform you when your quarters are ready, Raiden.”
“Thank you,” Raiden said. Xan and Raiden both bowed and then left.
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Dr. Takei had finally received his sample of the tendril, which had been delivered that morning. He had been pleasantly surprised when he received an entire portion of a tendril, and not just a scraping as he’d originally expected. He had locked himself away in his lab for hours and had left strict instructions that he was not to be interrupted. He’d gotten to work immediately, getting his tools ready and preparing his thesis. Then he pulled out his audio recorder to track findings as he went.
Now that the lab was set, he was ready for the real work to begin. The tendril specimen he’d received was the tip cut off of a full one; 5 inches long, about 9 ounces to work with. Seto had placed the container the specimen had arrived in within a hermetically sealed incubator when it had arrived, that would prevent the possibility of air contamination. The doctor pushed his hands into the built-in rubber gloves on the side of the incubator and then proceeded to pick up and open the sealed bio container that the tendril had been delivered in. He gently shook out the specimen until it slid out of the container.
Seto picked up the tendril to touch it, “Firm to the touch, the skin feels like that of a fish.”
Dr. Takei set it back down in and grabbed his scalpel. He made an incision at the tip and ran it lengthwise down the tendril, it was difficult to cut through. He then used his forceps to pull the skin back. The inside of the tendril was a complex interconnected webbing of circuitry, presumably a nervous system, that was all held in place by some sort of jelly-like substance. “No muscle tissue, or basic bone structure,” Seto said, wondering how they moved. In many aspects the tendrils resembled earth worms, but even worms had muscle to use to move.
He stuck his forceps into the jelly to get to the circuitry. The second his forceps touched the inner webbing Seto got a strong electric shock; so strong it penetrated through his rubber gloves. “Urg!” he immediately let go and pulled his hand back. After taking a moment to rub his hand to alleviate the pain he leaned in to look at the inner workings of the tendril. “The theory about these creatures storing electricity within their body proves to be true. The inner workings of the body are hyper-conductive. It seems likely these tendrils use the electrical current to generate their desired movement, however there is no brain that I, or the scientists I’ve corresponded with on the Bastion, have found. How they act on anything but instinct is as of yet, unknown.”
Seto took his scalpel and grabbed a slide. He took some of the jelly like substance on the tip of the blade and then delicately tapped it onto the slide and pressed the two pieces of glass together. He then slid the slide into an advanced scanner that acted as a microscope, with a digital feed that showed him the magnification read outs on his computer in real-time. Seto pulled his hands free of the rubber gloves and went to his computer.
It was surprising to Dr. Takei to see that the jelly was much like a thicker version of blood. Much like human blood it stored plasma and cells, but that’s where the similarities ended. “Bloods cells come from bone marrow, but you have no bones, hmm,” Seto spoke aloud to himself as his mind began churn through possibilities. And the thickness of the jelly may be a way to resist the colder temperatures, to survive space. I’ll need to run temperature tests, he mentally noted. With no circulatory system they must be born or grow with enough of these cells for their life spans.
The cells within the blood-like substance were translucent and brown. The tendrils seemed to have no use for oxygen and survived in dead space for an unknown amount of time, perhaps millennia, without it. The cells were conduits, but not for oxygen dispersal as humans need. They contained a nucleus, unlike red blood cells in humans, making them most closely resemble white blood cells; but they were abundant. White blood cells make up a mere 1% of blood in humans, but Dr. Takei was seeing more than 20% of the tendril blood was made up of these cells. White blood cells normally live for less than 24 hours… if these beings have superior disease fighting cells we may be able to use them.
The rest of the blood was made up of platelets, the small cell fragments that help heal and coagulate blood. Just like the cell count, the platelet count was incredibly high. “They have a remarkable ability to heal,” Seto said, impressed. The sheer medical possibilities for this kind of accelerated healing capability was staggering. Of course! The density of the blood acting like a gelatin, the abnormally high platelet count has caused this, he thought.
Seto worked late into the night running tests, putting cells under observation, and jotting down his thoughts and findings. He batted around one idea after another on how to properly study the super conductive inner webbing of the tendril but had yet to decide on the safest method. His hand still stung from the initial shock. Eventually Seto fell asleep on his desk.
The next morning Seto was awoken when one of his alarms began to go off. He came to and shut it off, then checked on the results from the experiment he’d run. He’d set a portion of the jelly-blood into a deep freeze for several hours. He removed it and allowed it to thaw, and then checked it under the microscope, “It’s like it never happened,” he said in awe. The tendrils could go into a perfect hibernation under extreme-cold condition and be revived with ease.
Dr. Takei stood from his seat, stretched, and yawned, then walked over to start a pot of coffee. After turning the machine on his eyes lazily glanced around the room while he was waiting. He looked to the tendril in the incubator and his heart skipped a beat when he saw it. The incision he’d made, cutting it open, virtually in half, had completely healed; it was as if he’d never done it. He walked over to it to give it a closer inspection. “Remarkable!” he exclaimed. The high cell count, the accelerated healing, it makes sense… but to see it! Astounding! He thought.
Seto felt elated at the new finding and documented it. As he did so he suddenly realized that the tendril was now appearing to take up much more space within the incubator. He remeasured and weighed it and found it had grown by and inch and gone up by 3 ounces. His mind began piecing it together, It’s regenerative. It must be able to regrow itself!
He paced and began to record his findings, “…High leukocyte and thrombocyte counts, higher than any I’ve seen
in any life form, even throughout the extensive data base from the Bastion, proves to provide these beings with incredible restorative capabilities. In 19 hours this specimen has not only completely healed itself from an incision extending the full length of it, but it’s also grown. If we can utilize the DNA we may be able to regrow limbs for amputees and fend off illness and fatal disease in ways we never could have imagined. Further research and time will tell, but the prospects are enormous,” Dr. Takei recorded.
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Raiden stood in General Takeo Yamamoto’s office. The General was sitting at his desk and had a somewhat sour expression on his face, “I can’t say I’m surprised, it’s quite an offer…” Takeo said. “Won’t be the same without you on Omega, though.”
“I know, sir. It wasn’t an easy decision…” Raiden tried to explain, still feeling torn.
Takeo cut him off, “Life has been nothing but constant change since we arrived here. You don’t have to say anything. I’m proud of you! The first human Black Shadow elite soldier, now that’s quite an achievement!”
Raiden smiled and felt like he was glowing. The General’s opinion had always meant a lot to him. “Thank you, sir.”
“I can’t say I know exactly what’s in store for us, for any of us, in these coming days and months, but I have a feeling we’ll be in touch. Congratulations, Lieutenant, you earned it!” Takeo smiled, stood up, and extended his hand.
Raiden took his hand and they shook. “I’ll do you proud,” Raiden said.
“You do humanity proud, son,” Takeo told him warmly.
Raiden walked out of General Yamamoto’s office and set off towards his quarters to begin packing his belongings. He looked around the hallway, and it felt weird knowing he wouldn’t be walking down them every day anymore. After a few minutes he heard footsteps running toward him from behind, and he turned around to see it was Freya.
“There you are!” she said when she finally caught up to him, then stopped to catch her breath.
“Hey,” he smiled, happy to see her.
“I’m glad you’re OK,” she said, “they kept you in quarantine for forever.”
“Yeah…” he nodded, “it sucked.”
Freya’s smile faded to a frown, “You didn’t tell me you were leaving… you just left. I thought we told each other everything?”
Raiden felt caught off guard, “Oh, I, I’m sorry. Really. The General called me in and before I knew it they were setting me out to launch.”
“And your personal comm was broken too?” she jousted.
“No. I just didn’t think it was that important,” he shrugged.
“Right,” she said, her voice icy. “Well, I’m glad you’re safe. If you’d died out there and I hadn’t said goodbye… Anyways, I’ll see you around,” she said and was about to walk off, but Raiden stopped her.
“Freya, I’m leaving,” he said as he looked her in the eye.
“’Leaving’? What do you mean?” she asked.
Raiden sighed. He’d been fretting about telling her ever since he agreed to take a position in the Black Shadow elite. “The Conclave, they offered me a position. I’ll have my own command.”
A look of shock came over Freya’s face as the realization that her best friend would no longer be an active part of her life hit her like a punch in the stomach. “Oh…” she said, not sure what else to say. Suddenly all the anger and jealousy she felt towards him slipped away, and she felt guilt for being angry. She swallowed hard, “Congrats, man.” She fought her pain, smiled, and pulled him in for a hug. “Always knew you’d be destined for great things.”
Raiden held her tight. He could feel her trembling in his arms. Her breathing was strained, and he felt her chest rise and fall in short bursts as her breasts pushed against his chest. He nestled his face against her hair. “We’ll see each other, as often as possible, I promise,” he told her, meaning it, hoping it was true.
Freya was on the brink of tears, unable to speak, she nodded her head which rubbed against his chest. She took a moment to regain her composure before pulling out of the hug. “When do you leave?” she asked, trying to keep her voice from cracking.
“A few days,” he said.
“Drinks tonight?” she asked.
Raiden smiled, “You got it.”
Chapter 18: The Visions
It was the middle of the night when Blaine arrived home from work. Much like the way he lived, he worked in the shadows, doing odd jobs around the ship. He did just about anything that needed doing that didn’t require him to interact with others; stocking shelves, cleaning, inventory, and so on.
After a quick dinner Blaine went into his bedroom, sat on his bed, and began meditating. It was something he had learned to do long ago to quiet his mind and cleanse himself of all the energies from other people that he’d picked up on each day. His empathy allowed him great awareness, but it left him susceptible to mood swings. The emotions of the people around him colored his own feelings, and so he did his best to keep to himself.
As soon as he got comfortable and closed his eyes he felt at peace. He let the thoughts from the day dissipate and was freed by their release. He focused on his breathing, in through his nose, and out through his mouth. It reenergized him. The longer he sat in silence the easier he found it to keep random thoughts from creeping in. Every session was different, but today, he felt an especially strong clarity.
A half hour passed by, and with each passing minute Blaine slipped into a deeper meditative state. He almost felt like he was in a trance, which was a state he rarely achieved. He luxuriated in it. With his eyes closed, the blackness of his mind’s eye drifted thoughtless through the haze. As his mind and spirit became freer and freer within the confines of his body, the blackness started to take form, like smoke dancing into imagery.
He came to see, or rather feel or sense the tendrils. It was unlike anything he’d ever experienced. Their inherent beings were like husks; soulless hallow pawns in a grander scheme. Blaine tried to steady his breath, to see clearly. He could feel how the tendrils had come into being, not born, but created. Their existence was one of agony. They were conduits for electricity, they lived on it, but the currents ran along a nervous system, causing unfathomable pain. He sensed their time in space, waiting indefinitely, frozen, unable to move, but awake. It was horrifying. As Blaine delved deeper into the consciousness of the tendrils he found himself feeling trapped, alone, and cold.
Blaine travelled further and further into their psyche. Slaves… he realized and felt pity for their wretched existence. As if a veil had been lifted he then saw the tendrils’ creators who came from the Phoenix Galaxy. He saw their minds and felt their power, the overwhelming strength of it startled him. They were beings who understood the power of the Universe, energy, and the ability to bend it to their will. They wielded their power without mercy.
Desperate to understand, Blaine kept searching for answers. He couldn’t see their motivations, and it was as if they were hidden just behind a fog that he couldn’t see through. He felt like he was running around in a maze, unable to find the right way to go. Then images began to flash in his mind, quickly and incoherently. Blaine cringed against the sharp pain he felt as it happened, and tried to focus, to see what they were, but it was a blur. A moment later the images ceased, and he saw, plain as day, a pair of malicious eyes staring at him.
Blaine opened his eyes and threw his back against the wall. He was hyperventilating and sweat ran down his face. He was trying to catch his breath and breathe through the fear. The eyes, they saw him; they had seen into his mind, and Blaine knew that they knew what he had seen.
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Xan woke up from a dead sleep in a cold sweat. She shot up to seated, her heart racing, and she placed her hand on her chest to try to calm herself down. After a moment she got up from her bed and went to get a glass of water. She chugged it down, refilled it, and drank deeply again. “What was that?” she then asked herself, trying to make sense of her wild dreams
.
She had not just seen a great darkness, but she had walked among it. There had been a cascade of imagery and places where she witnessed war, torture, and despair. In her dream she had been running, trying to escape it, but it had enveloped her, and that’s when she had awoken with a start. It had shaken her to her core. The Ethlana had natural aptitudes for psychic abilities and astral projection. She tried to dismiss it as just a nightmare, but deep down, she knew it was real…
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Vex sat on the edge of his bed with his head in his hands. He’d just thrown up and his body felt vile. The heel of his left foot tapped nervously on the floor. He had witnessed the annihilation of his home world Aeros in his dreams, and it had felt so real, that now that he was awake his mind couldn’t accept it.
He’d ran from the bathroom after vomiting to check the news to make sure Aeros was still there. It was, but it hadn’t allayed the sinking feeling he had in his gut. He’d seen an intense battle in space above his planet, the tendrils attacking Ethlana’s fleet, and then a bright blinding light, and the planet exploding into a million pieces. Vex shuddered as he recalled it in vivid detail.