A growl emanated from deep within Zolyn and she shot forward. Her hands came out as if to strangle him, but they did not. Rather, they held him by the shoulders, squeezing him until his body ached.
“Insolence will not be tolerated!” she hissed. Her face was only a few inches from him, and he could hear the clicking of her many moving pieces as they formed the words on her lips.
If Shaun expected Zolyn to follow her reaction through to the same conclusion that Xara had, he was mistaken. Instead it appeared that Zolyn’s resolve doubled down.
“It is no matter if he is gone. He was just the beginning. I already have you in my possession along with your friend. That is a start.” She removed her hands from him, but kept them hovering over his chest. They began to glow with the light that kept all of her pieces connected. An aroma like well-worn rubber crept from the reaction into Shaun’s nostrils.
“What are you doing to me?” he demanded.
“I am scanning you for the pieces of the Vestige,” Zolyn answered matter-of-factly. “Once I remove them from you, I will be able to manipulate your energy at-will. You just witnessed it happen to your friend Mae. The same will go for you. Now, where did you put the pieces? Don’t struggle. I will find them whether you tell me or not.”
Shaun gave her an insolent grin.
“You won’t find the pieces,” he said victoriously. “I don’t need them to use my powers.”
“That’s not possible,” Zolyn shot him down.
“Fine. Believe what you want, but I am telling you the truth. I don’t need the Vestige to use my abilities. They come from within me.”
Her hands glowed even brighter, giving off heat and more of that terrible burning smell. Yet she did not find the Vestige because Shaun was telling the truth.
Shaun thought that this information would infuriate Zolyn. He looked forward to her growls of despair. Those growls did not materialize. Zolyn’s eyes widened and a look of dawning spread across her features.
“Unbelievable...” she muttered. “A biological creature as fragile as you is capable of harnessing the powers of the shards without possessing them?”
She moved around him, observing him from every angle like he was some sort of fascinating animal in containment. Every time she got close, Shaun tried to turn his head away. He didn’t want to look her in the eye.
This wasn’t the reaction that Zolyn was supposed to have! he thought furiously. Maybe Xara was right. He shouldn’t have ran out on her like that. If he had stayed behind in the cube, he would have been safe still. Imprisoned to a degree, but safe. He could have figured out a way to hide Mae. She could have been separated from the Vestige.
So many things would have been better off...
Alas, those were in the past. He needed to deal with things right here and now...and he had a horrible sinking feeling that with the admission of his natural abilities he had opened up Pandora’s box.
Finished with her examination of him, Zolyn stood back up and brought her hands together.
“This is remarkable!” she said. “I have to be honest. At first I was disappointed that your father was no longer with us. But, now I don’t think we even needed him to begin with. You will do much better in the long run!”
She went over to one of the empty sets of energy siphons and retrieved them. They activated in her hands.
“How did you modify your biology?” she asked, stopping directly in front of him once more. “Was it difficult? You humans must be smarter than I thought.”
“I’m not going to tell you that,” Shaun spat at her.
Zolyn merely smiled and brought the two siphons up to the sides of his forehead.
“It doesn’t really matter. I’ve got what I want, and if what you say is true then I will have a lot more where that came from. Hold still.”
“Wait — what are you —?”
His words died on his lips as the air was pulled from his lungs. He tried to exhale instinctually, but there was nothing left. The sensation caught in his throat and Shaun found himself gasping for breath. No matter what he did, he couldn’t get enough air to feel replenished.
The siphons rested against his skin and there were circles of intense heat where they had reacted to his body. Great waves of pain throbbed through his brain, worse than any migraine he had suffered. The pain was excruciating! It crippled him, and he was already unable to recoil under the strain.
A scream escaped through his clenched teeth as sweat rolled down his face.
She’s taking my energy by force, he thought. It was the only thing he could think besides focusing on the pain.
How long could this go on? Already it had been thirty seconds and he felt as if a steam roller had parked itself on his head. The pain was moving down his neck now, into his shoulders and then his chest. He was weakened. His ability to lie straight on the metal platform, even as he was being pressed against it by the restraints, was depleted. His body sagged against the restraints and even his jaw went slack.
Another few seconds of this and Zolyn mercifully took the siphons away. They were pulsating green the same way they had once Mae was siphoned.
“This is wonderful!” Zolyn said as she glided back to the empty platform and stored the two wands. “Imagine my luck. And look — you’re replenishing so quickly, unlike your friend over there.” She motioned to the way his healing ability had kicked in. The pain was pressed out of his body and his posture returned to normal. Mae, on the other hand, was still passed out. Her body was limp in the chair that contained her.
“You leave her alone!” he warned.
Zolyn tisked him.
“She won’t last as long as you. Not unless we can replicate what you did to be able to use the power of the shards without possessing one. And, call me hopeful, but I think that between the two of us, we can make it happen. Then, once we’re successful, I’ll collect more people to try.”
“No, you won’t!” Shaun yelled. “And I won’t help you, either.”
“No?” Zolyn stared at him calmly. “I think you forget who has the real power right now. I can end your little friend’s life without hesitation. Would you like me to do that?”
She glanced over at the remaining set of energy siphons.
Shaun’s eyes widened.
“No...” he said under his breath. “Don’t you touch her.”
Zolyn stepped towards Mae and reached out a hand.
“I can do whatever I like. Just to make sure that you are cooperative, let me give you a little bit of motivation.”
She brought her hand down and clamped it on the crown of Mae’s head. Zolyn began to squeeze.
“STOP IT!” Shaun screamed. “STOP!”
Zolyn cackled, her fingers clamped on Mae’s head.
No matter what he tried, Shaun couldn’t break free. He strained against his bonds, but that did nothing but use up his energy.
He felt like he would explode with rage!
As if reading his mind, something did explode. It wasn’t him, however. It was the entrance to the lab. In a blast of intense noise, like the howling of a hurricane, Xara burst onto the scene and plowed right into Zolyn.
18
At A Loss
Everything happened so fast that Shaun could barely make out what he was seeing. It was like a blur of color. What he did know for sure was that somehow Xara had broken into the ship’s lab, just as suddenly as Zolyn had exploded Shaun’s kitchen, and now there was a roiling fight that was going on right in front of him.
It was like watching one of those multi-colored, swirling screen savers, except these weren’t simulated images. These were two extra terrestrial beings in their base forms duking it out to take down the other. Every few seconds Shaun witnessed the two aliens’ bodies slow enough so that the individual spheres that made up their figures were visible. Great globs of marbles was what it looked liker to Shaun.
Every time they moved through the air it was like a clink clink clink. It would have been relaxin
g to listen to, but this was terrifying to Shaun. His pulse raced. The two aliens were so close to him and Mae that they could crash into them. Who knew how intense an injury that would be? For Shaun, it didn’t really matter. He was really worried about Mae.
His girlfriend and partner was still out of it, and it was a good thing she was. Shaun didn’t need her to be put through any more torment on account of Zolyn.
The battle continued.
Clack. Clack. CRASH!
The blue essence of Xara was forced over like a flailing whale’s tale by Zolyn’s fierce purple energy. Xara was smashed into the sloping wall of the lab, leaving great dents like scattershot.
Xara wasn’t defeated, however, and she shot back, swirling around Zolyn like a tornado of powerful energy. This swirling energy was so strong and rapid that it looked like a ring of gauze.
A few times Zolyn tried to break free, but each time she was pushed back to the middle with a snap that caused the hair on the back of Shaun’s neck to stand on end.
In between watching the fight and also keeping an eye on Mae, who was mere feet from the madness, Shaun attempted to reach out with his mind to Xara, offering encouragement.
Keep at it! You’ve got her cornered. It won’t be long now.
To his surprise, Xara responded, and she didn’t sound worried at all. It was as if she were just sitting somewhere peacefully, having a conversation with Shaun.
You’re optimistic, she said to him gently. I’ll do my best. But, this is not going exactly the way I had hoped.
Shaun pulled a face and replied, It’s better than what it was a few minutes ago. I think Zolyn is going to kill Mae in her lust for power.
There’s no doubt about that, said Xara. Mae will eventually have her life force extinguished when all of her energy is depleted, but that won’t be today. Zolyn has plans to keep the two of you around for a long while. You’re like rechargeable batteries. Crude, but there’s no other way to say it.
It was such a horrible thought. The ultimate enslavement, both of mind and body. Were all of the people that had positive reactions to the Vestige doomed to be hunted down by this alien menace and harvested for their life forces? Just because of an unexplainable reaction that caused exponential power?
Shaun couldn’t let that happen. He would fight to the end in order to see that this plan didn’t come to fruition.
Kinda hard to do anything productive when I’m locked up here, he thought, and resigned himself to simply watching the fight and hoping for the best.
Zolyn continued to hammer against the barrier that Xara created. With every attack, Shaun’s ally was weakened more and more.
I can’t hold on much longer, said Xara. This is going to be over soon, for better or worse.
Shaun nodded.
I understand, he told her. I’m ready to do whatever needs to be done.
I know that you won’t let your people down, Xara said. There was a pause, then she added with a note of finality, Don’t give up. There’s so much counting on the two of you.
Then there was a giant explosion, great flickering sparks, as Zolyn broke through the swirling wind tunnel, arcing out like a solar flare. This line of her floating body shot past Shaun, whipping around him to double back on Xara. It was then that Xara followed, doing the same arc around Shaun’s restraints, but she passed much closer to him. He both heard and felt a snap as Xara ground past, and Shaun felt the metal covering that was wrapped around him give way. It didn’t swing open, but the lock on the underside of the table was broken free by Xara’s swift movement — and it seemed that Zolyn hadn’t noticed as she raced around the room.
I’m free! Shaun thought. It was an incredible feeling of triumph!
Stay there! ordered Xara. I don’t need you getting taken down again!
Shaun didn’t betray the little bit of help he was given, though. It took all of his determination to keep his body in place so that the restraint wouldn’t slide free. It was on some hidden hinge, and with the table that he was originally lying on being turned upright, he needed to use his flight ability to stay in place. There was no platform to stand on.
Pressing himself against the metal table like a wall, Shaun levitated, keeping the restraint wrapped over himself. He just prayed that Xara would be victorious and the two of them could get Mae out of here.
Watching the rest of the battle was like waiting in agony. Every slam of the alien bodies against something caused him to jump, even when he saw it coming a mile away. The sound was so sudden and amplified by the smooth walls of the lab. Each click of their many spherical pieces echoed, cementing into his memory for eternity.
Come on, Xara…
The two beings swirled around each other with tiny little tendrils lashing out. It was unlike anything that Shaun had witnessed in real life before.
Xara swiped out with a meter-long appendage, and Zolyn slammed it away with a sparking rebuttal.
Over and over it happened. There was no way for Shaun to tell who was winning and who was losing. Their bodies didn’t show injury in the same way that a physical human body did. They weren’t designed by flesh and blood — only mechanics.
Come on…
His hopefulness was misplaced.
Going completely against every positive thought in his brain, Zolyn rose up suddenly, her glowing crimson brilliance amplifying to the point that it blinded Shaun for a moment, and she made her final attack. It was enough to bring the entire battle to a shocking and disappointing end.
The blinding flash didn’t only stop Shaun from seeing, but it also momentarily caused Xara to become disoriented. All of her spheres spun in place like magnets looking for something to connect to. It was in that split second that Zolyn made her final wrenching move.
A tendril of spheres as big around as Shaun’s arm came jabbing out of Zolyn, penetrating the very heart of Xara where it encased a single sphere that Shaun hadn’t noticed was actually larger than the rest. That must have been the main source of Xara’s life, in much the same way that the heart and brain were integral pieces of the human body.
With this larger sphere encased, Zolyn used all of her might to compress her grip on it, and within seconds there was a sickening crunch and the light connecting all of Xara’s spheres was extinguished.
“XARA!!!”
The cry left Shaun’s lips before he even realized that he was making a sound.
All of the spheres belonging to Xara came to a shuddering halt in the air and then dropped like spent bullets. They clattered on the floor, rolling all over the place.
Zolyn collected herself and solidified into the figure of a woman once more, giving Shaun a smug look.
“You see? That’s what happens to those who get in the way of my survival. You have to fight for what you want.”
“She was one of your people!” said Shaun in disbelief.
This got a glance from Zolyn as she walked over to one of the tiny platforms containing another set of energy siphons.
“People? We’re not people. We’re intelligent beings. We don’t form familial bonds the way that a weaker biological species such as yourself does. All we care about is our own existence and multiplying the best of ourselves so that the future is secure. There is no place for weakness, and believe me, Xara was the weaker. If she wasn’t, she would have won. Not to worry, though. Her energy won’t go to waste.”
Using another set of siphons, Zolyn pressed the glowing rounded edge against the remains of Xara, which rested in Zolyn’s open palm, and within moments the energy was stored in the wand. It flashed green, and Zolyn let the broken bits of Xara fall to the floor like rubbish.
Zolyn clapped her hands together and surveyed the lifeless spheres that blanketed the floor.
“We’ll clean up this mess later. For now, I need you two to recharge. I expect you to sleep until it’s feeding time. And,” she added with a glint of red in her eyes, “if you don’t sleep voluntarily, you will be forced to go comatose. You choose how you
want it. I shall return.”
19
Mae Awakens
“Mae? Mae! Can you hear me? Please…”
He reached out and held his hand against the side of her neck, feeling for a pulse. At first his blood ran cold when he thought that Mae was dead — drained of her life’s energy. But, when he took a few deep breaths and calmed his own nerves he managed to feel a pulse. It was very faint, but it was there.
Dammit, she’s been brought to the brink of death!
Her skin was cold and clammy. Mae was practically comatose. Was this what all of humanity had to look forward to? Being used up every day until they are essentially shells of their former selves?
I can’t let that happen, Shaun thought as he tried to do something to revive Mae. He needed her to be conscious, at the very least to know that she was still mentally alert and her old self. If this draining of power took away her cognitive abilities, he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself for allowing them to be thrown into this mess. If only he had gotten to his family sooner! They would have been warned.
Yet, if he hadn’t been captured by Xara, he wouldn’t have found his ally, and he would still have ended up being harnessed to the operating table in this ship, with no way out.
So many moving parts. He longed for the not-so-distant past where his only enemies and obstacles were ordinary human beings. Those were simple times!
Placing his hands over Mae’s cheeks, he tried to warm her up. Using his electricity manipulation, Shaun generated a slight layer of buzzing electricity to inject some life back into Mae, not unlike using a set of paddles to shock a heart back to life. Of course, this was a very minuscule version of that, but it was mainly to bring heat back to Mae’s body.
“Come on, Mae,” he said under his breath, constantly keeping an eye over his shoulder in case Zolyn came back. “I need you with me. Come on…”
In reality it was only a few seconds, but to Shaun it felt like an eternity. He increased the amount of electricity coming out of his hands, massaging it into Mae’s clammy skin. Slowly but surely, heat returned to her face, and the color came back into her skin.
The Aberrant Series (Book 4): Super Invasion Page 12