Spaceships flew through the air. Stars exploded and collapsed on themselves. The whole universe inside her head; terrifying and beautiful, all at the same time. Agonizing and yet wonderful, maddening.
With each new image, her brain tipped further toward the edge. There was so much knowledge, so much information flying straight at her that her mind couldn't cope with it all. How could any one person contain the entirety of time and space inside their heads?
They couldn't.
She squeezed her eyes shut but the images didn't stop; she could still see them through her eyelids.
She watched as electricity flowed through wires, and impulses flowed through neurons. She watched babies born and people die. Creatures with legs as long as buildings stomped through trees with blue-glowing leaves. Other animals, like slugs the size of ships, rolled along the floor of a tropical rainforest. Entire planets reduced to rubble. Bombs, black-holes, bodies.
Sounds; every color had its own frequency. Nova heard the blue of the sky, she listened to the darkness of space, the sound of leaves growing, of seeds bursting, of hearts beating.
Her focus zoomed in on individual noises. It was as if she could hear every noise that had or would ever been made. She could hear each individual heartbeat of each individual organism as they pondered their arduous way through life.
She thought she heard water flowing down rivers; instead, her vision was filled with blood flowing through veins. The crimson liquid splashing against the sides of blood-vessels created a cacophony in her ears.
Smells. So many smells. The fresh scent of falling droplets plummeting out of the sky. Flowers bloomed and their fragrance was so strong that it made her head light. For the first time, she smelt fear; it was a tangy acrid scent which made her heart beat faster, made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.
She could feel things too. While her eyes, ears and nose were accosted and overwhelmed, she touched every piece of creation through her fingertips. She stroked a blooming flower. Her fingers caught a falling raindrop. She put her hand through an exploding supernova.
Only one thing made sense amongst all the madness. Directly in front of her, so obvious and yet so meaningless, Tobius. He smiled at her, the gun aimed at her face.
He was oblivious to the atoms flying past his head, to the big bang and big crunch happening over and over again. He looked only at Nova. She clung to that thought. If she could just block out the rest, block out the universe happening all around her then maybe she could cling to the shreds of whatever sanity she had left.
She blinked and glared at Tobius. His smile faltered but he didn't move the gun.
It was so hard to focus on this one individual when there was so much happening. So much knowledge, so many questions answered. She couldn't ignore the beauty and majesty of it all.
But she had to.
There was something in her hand. What was it? She didn't dare glance down. To look even an inch to her side would mean staring directly into the sweep of time. She was sure that her sanity would be lost if she did that. Instead, she squeezed her fingers tighter. The cold object was so familiar. It felt like safety, like home. There was only one thing in the world that felt like that. Her gun.
She gripped it tighter, sure that she would have only one chance. A part of her knew that Tobius couldn't read her thoughts; he wouldn't dare while time and space flew through her brain. She was free, alone, her only chance.
She lifted the familiar gun. It felt a thousand times heavier than usual and it took all of her force of will to raise it up and take aim.
Tobius' eyes widened.
Nova squeezed the trigger and her shoulder jolted backwards with the force of the recoil. The sound echoed around the closed room and sent ripples through the images flying past her. She didn't see if her shot hit, all she was aware of was a bright light, searing pain, and then darkness.
***
Nova's mind clawed back from the brink. Its blood-stained claws clutched at the shreds of darkness all around and hauled her consciousness back to the surface. She wanted to snuggle back under the dark shrouds, to drift away to the timeless gloom where she could watch all of time and space fly past her. The rest of her refused to give in.
The survivor in her clutched and scrounged, searching for anything solid to grip onto, anything real. Questions streamed through her mind; what was reality? Hadn't everything she'd seen flying past been part of reality? Didn't that make her tiny fleeting existence, the dream?
No! She couldn't drift away on such thoughts. She had to focus on the here and now; the rest of time and space could wait. As she regained awareness, she discovered that reality was just as dark and shrouded as her imaginings had been.
She lay in rough dirt, lit by dim purple lights on the wall. It dug into her flesh and left scrapes and bruises along the side of her body. Her head ached and pounded in time with her beating heart and her lungs heaved as if she'd just been running.
She pushed herself up onto shaky arms that quaked under her weight. She felt like she'd spent her whole life straining against something and now her body was paying the price. She breathed deeply and pushed harder. Her vision cleared; the lights weren't dim at all, it was her eyes. They were shaded, darkened, seeing the world through a shadow.
She blinked, wiling her eyesight to return. The lights got brighter and she could see silhouettes in the room. There were two black shapes on the floor, one next to her and the other two yards away. She squinted at the closest object.
Material. Two leather boots. Why did they look so familiar?
Nova's stomach dropped; it was her body, right there attached to her head and yet it felt foreign.
She reached out a shaky hand and patted her leg, it registered the contact, but the internal connections were fried. Her hand could feel and her leg could feel, but they didn't recognize each other.
She ripped her eyes away and looked at the second object.
Shiny metal came into view. Tobius!
Memories of the creature came back to her. He had shot her with the impossible gun. Shattered pieces of metal and plastic lay scattered around the small room; all that remained of the powerful weapon.
Nova sighed; the threat of the gun at least was gone.
…Beginning to get tired… No good… How about…
Nova whipped her head around. Where had the voice come from? The whispers tingled over her ears. They brushed around her head, weaved their way through the air.
She stood and spun in a night circle, her boots kicked up sand. There was no one there.
But the voices!
They continued to talk at her, garbled chunks of conversation, half-heard sentences melding into an ongoing stream.
A shadow moved at the corner of Nova's eye. It ran from one side of the room to the other. She turned but there was nothing there.
Another shadow on her other side. She whipped around. Nothing.
A flash of purple on her right. Red on her left. Images flashed just out of her range of sight. She cringed. The Ancients were probably playing more tricks on her. She wished they'd just let her go.
A loud groan caught her attention and stilled the faint images. Tobius.
She drew a shaky breath and crawled over to his body. His armor glimmered in the purple lights; solid, unbreakable.
But she couldn't let him live. As soon as he woke up he'd kill her, or worse. But how could she kill him when he was encased in unbreakable armor?
The helmet.
She'd seen one of them take his helmet off, there had to be a way but there weren't any obvious hinges or clasps.
She leaned in close. A tiny button that glowed purple protruded from the base of the helmet, near Tobius' neck.
Nova reached out a tentative hand and pressed down. A loud click echoed around the room and a gap opened at the base of the helmet. She shoved the helmet free.
It rolled away from Tobius' body and left his head revealed. He looked very much like the creatu
re Nova had seen outside, with a scaled face and massive eyes that jerked beneath his lids.
Nova braced herself and pulled her trusted gun up to Tobius' head. She squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her index finger. The gun jerked and warm liquid pattered across Nova's arms.
She opened one eye and looked down. Tobius wasn't there anymore. Or at least, his face wasn't there anymore.
A gaping crater filled with gray flesh and brown ooze had taken its place. It bubbled and dribbled around a mess of broken bones. Bigger gray chunks spread out from the armored body and lay scattered across the floor and over Nova's legs.
The trail of flesh continued up her arms and coated her hands and shoulders. It soaked through her clothes and she could feel the warmth of it against her skin.
Bile rose in her throat. Her eyes stayed pinned on the grizzly mess, she couldn't help but stare at the blood trailing all over her body. It smelled. It had the tangy metallic scent of blood and something else which she couldn't place.
A splatter of blood clung to her face. She tried to swipe it away but a patch dried on her cheek and pinched her skin together like a thin layer of glue.
Nova's entire body clenched and convulsed at once and a mass of vomit poured out of her mouth to join the rest of the mess on the floor.
Nova scrambled away from the mangled body until her back pressed against the cold wall.
Tobius' didn't move. Whatever great technology they had, it appeared that in the end, even the Ancients couldn't stop death. They also made mistakes; there was no way Tobius would have shot her with the gun if he knew she'd survive. Of course that didn't help her now; she was still trapped in the dim room.
Nova drew a deep breath and wiped her hand across her mouth. She could lie about feeling sorry for herself later, right now she had to escape.
She used the wall to stand and edged her way around to the rock door the size of a small space ship. She leaned all of her weight against it, but it didn't budge.
She took three steps back and fired her gun at the door. A few chips of rock flew off and left white marks.
…Not so bad. Don't get emotions on Ipheron…
Nova clutched her head and staggered back but the voices wouldn't leave.
Her hands quaked and her gun slipped free, it clattered to the sand, forgotten.
"No! Leave me alone!"
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Something shrieked to Nova's left. She whirled around and scooted backwards, her shoulder scraping along the sandstone wall.
Fingernails scraped over a blackboard and rusted metal knives scratched together. A hundred noises pummeled Nova's head and raised the flesh along her spine. Her skin tingled, threatening to fall straight off. She shivered, teeth chattered.
Noise came from all directions and yet the cavern was empty except for her and Tobius' corpse.
Someone laughed. It was a deep, throaty voice that echoed around the room. It circled Nova's head, taunting her. She swatted at the noise with her hands, but it didn't go away.
She blinked.
A green forest replaced the sandstone room. Vines dangled down from the branches overhead and reached out for her.
She ducked out of their way. Where was Tobius' body?
Birds screeched overhead and other creatures scurried through the undergrowth. A fresh, green smell filled the air, like freshly cut grass.
Nova got to her feet, her legs shook. She had no idea how she got here, but at least she could get away. She staggered through the trees, swatting branches and vines aside. Her only thoughts were of getting away, finding Crusader, and flying free.
She went five steps and slammed into a solid wall.
Her lip split open and she toppled backward. She landed hard on her back and pain surged up her spine.
Sandstone walls surrounded her on all sides. Something warm and sticky coated her hand.
She looked down; her hand lay in a pool of Tobius' blood. She wrenched it out and blood spattered across the floor, dripped from her fingers. She scraped her hand back and forth on a patch of dirt but dried blood clung to her skin.
Bile rose in the back of her throat and joined the tang of blood from her lips.
She held her bloodied hand away from her body and tried not to look at it.
Nova blinked.
Bright city lights surrounded her. She lay on hard pavement beside a busy road. People shuffled past but didn't seem to notice her.
The taste of blood grew stronger.
A man stood in a side street. It was dark, but Nova could make out his black clothing by the dim glow of a street light. He had slanted eyes and pale skin. He watched the street and sniffed the air. He looked familiar and yet Nova was sure she'd never seen him before in her life.
The man's gaze flicked to his left, to a young girl whose heels clicked against the sidewalk. The man smiled and leapt out of his ally. He snatched the girl back into the darkness and leaned over her neck. Something black protruded from his mouth, like a black snake. No! A leach. The man was a lecheon.
The girl went pale and stopped struggling, then the man stood and disappeared into the darkness.
Nova pushed herself upright and stumbled toward the girl. Perhaps she'd be in time to save her.
Nova held her hands out in front of her face but she couldn't remember why. Blood trickled down her lip.
Her hands slammed into something solid and rough. She frowned and stared hard at the air in front of her; something shimmered. She looked harder and the world disappeared around her.
Sandstone walls spattered with blood.
She lifted a finger to her bloated lip, then drew it away, covered in blood.
She whirled in a circle. The room was just as she remembered. There was no sign of the forest or the city.
Nova stormed to the stone door and smashed her fist against it.
No response.
"Cal! Cal! Can you hear me?"
No reply.
The ground tilted beneath Nova's feet and threw her off balance. She staggered against the nearest wall, which vibrated. Rocks fell from the roof and crashed to the ground around her.
She wrapped her arms over her head and pressed her body as close to the wall as she could.
The quaking continued for what felt like eternity, and even once it stopped, Nova stayed crouched against the wall.
Nova opened her eyes, something was different. She studied the sandy floor and piles of fallen rocks.
The body and blood were gone, and the stone door was gone, replaced by a dark tunnel that led up and out.
Nova pushed herself upright and peered into the tunnel beyond. Blue lights broke the darkness. It seemed cleaner than before; less dust and loose dirt.
She reached for her gun but it wasn't in her holster. She turned and scanned the room but it wasn't there, it must have been buried beneath the pile of rocks.
She felt naked without her weapon, but she didn't have a choice. She had to get back to Crusader.
Her boots scraped on the smooth floor but otherwise silence surrounded her.
She didn't know the way out so settled for always turning right. She had to get to the exit eventually.
Pain throbbed behind her eyes in time with her heartbeat and she had to walk bent over because her ribs felt as though they'd snap in half if she tried to stretch.
No matter what Cal said, there was no way she was going to stay on this planet. Let the universe be damned. She'd fly away. There had to be somewhere that the Ancients couldn't get to.
Voices shook Nova out of her reverie. She slowed down and crept toward the sound. She peaked around a doorway and found two Ancients, both in black armor with eye-slits that glowed yellow. They stood close with heads bent together.
"You understand your orders?"
"We are to stay here until the tomb is disturbed. From there we will carry out our sacred duty to guide the galaxies forward."
"Correct. I don't know how long this plague will last or how bad it will be
. Perhaps we'll survive it, in which case I'll see you in a few weeks. If we don't—"
"You will."
"If we don't, then it's your job to finish what we started."
"I understand."
"Good, now get on with you."
The two Ancients held up their hands. Yellow light shone from their armored palms and grew brighter as they moved their hands closer. Their palms touched and the light flashed, then died.
They turned away from each other. One strode into a dark room and the other slid a massive, stone door in front of the entrance. The one left outside patted his hand against the stone and then trudged away with his head hung low.
Nova crept after the creature, even though her whole body hurt and threatened to fall apart beneath her.
Nova's mind raced. If the Ancients were worried about a plague then maybe they weren't as big a threat as they pretended to be. It sounded like all she had to do was wait until they died of natural causes. That would certainly help her guilty conscience when she left the known galaxies.
The Ancient led her straight up to the exit and she followed it out into the desert.
Nova stumbled to a stop; how long had she been gone?
Hundreds of alien ships stood lined up on the sand, like a fleet ready for invasion. Red and blue moonlight reflected off their smooth metal hulls and sleek weapons.
The Confederacy ships were gone, along with the bodies of all the workers and the Confederacy soldiers.
Nova frowned; something wasn't right. She couldn't tell how long she'd been gone, but surely it would have been easier for the Ancients to leave the Confederacy ships wherever they fell; they wouldn't bother moving them.
Nova's heart leapt into her throat.
The red moon had been destroyed by the Ancients. She'd watched it happen. The whole thing was reduced to a black-hole and then nothing.
She looked up and stared. The red moon glowed above her, as bright as when she'd first arrived on Archalon. But that wasn't possible, did the Ancients have the power of recreating moons as well?
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