“Keera!” shouted Ryonna.
She was in no shape to carry Jonas back to the medical bay on her ship. She also feared he might not last that long.
“Keera! Please wake up,” insisted Ryonna.
She gently laid Jonas on the floor next to Keera. By then Keera had opened her eyes.
“What happened? Is the Brin gone?” asked Keera, holding her head with both hands.
“Yes, thanks to you. But Jonas is in bad shape. We need to give him medical attention immediately or he will succumb to his wounds.”
Keera got back on her feet and walked towards the console, fiddling with the controls.
“What are you doing? We don’t have time. Help me walk Jonas back to the ship.”
“The ship is too far, Ryonna, and neither of us is in good enough shape to actually carry him there fast enough.”
“So what do you propose?”
“I’ve located this facility’s med-bay. It’s closer. Let’s go.”
Keera kneeled and helped Ryonna to lift Jonas. The difference in size between Keera and the Droxian made it difficult, but she was a trooper and, after a rocky start when they almost fell to the ground a few times, they got the hang of it.
In five minutes they reached the medical facility. As soon as Jonas was placed in a regen tank, Ryonna fell to the ground and lost consciousness.
Daniel had been looking at his empty glass for quite a long time now, so he called the barman droid and asked for a refill.
“Sir, I believe you have had enough for now.”
“Just pour me a drink, you piece of junk.”
“Losing your temper is yet another sign that you should not drink anymore. I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to decline.”
Daniel sighed deeply. The bars on Earth were no fun since the bots had taken over most of the jobs once considered menial. Now everyone was doing what their heart called them to do and few of the repetitive and boring jobs were done by human personnel. Bots of all shapes and sizes had taken their places. While it was the same back on his home planet, he didn’t like the changes he saw happening on Earth. Not all of them anyway. Especially when a tin can refused to serve him alcohol so he could drown his sorrows.
“I’ve saved this planet more times than you’ll ever know. I want a drink for my troubles!”
But the droid had moved on to other customers and didn’t respond. Their AI chips weren’t really that advanced, so he was out of luck trying to get another drink in this establishment. But then he felt a hand on his shoulder.
When he turned to see who had touched him, he was surprised to see a well-dressed and groomed female of Asian descent. She looked no older than thirty.
“Is it true you have saved this world many times?”
“Yeah, well . . . you know . . . it was a team effort but yeah, I’ve put my life on the line more times than I care to count.”
“That’s very brave of you. Do you mind if I ask why you’re here in the middle of the afternoon getting plastered? Shouldn’t you be out there, patrolling in orbit?”
“I’m on leave. Though I’m not sure I ever want to go back to active duty. What is it to you, anyway?” His breath stank of bourbon.
“I didn’t mean anything by it. I’m just curious.”
Daniel’s gaze met with the drink she held in her hand. Her glass was full.
“Will you finish that?”
She smiled. “I’ll gladly give you my drink if you’ll tell me what’s bothering you.”
“It’ll take more than a single drink for that. It’s a long story.”
“I have time, and I can keep them coming.”
“Okay . . .”
She put her drink down and slid it towards him.
Daniel didn’t hesitate and downed the drink. Vodka from the taste of it. Bottoms up.
“Aaah,” said Daniel. “Can I have another?”
“First, let’s discuss why you’re in such a state, and then I’ll consider it.”
Daniel made a face but proceeded to tell his life story over the next few drinks. They talked for hours.
“I’m so sorry to hear about your girlfriend and what happened to your friend Chase. But do you think they’d be happy to know you’re spending your days drinking your sorrow away?”
It had been a good two hours since he last had a drink and he was slowly sobering up. That question hit him like a punch in the guts.
“I don’t even know your name.”
“My name is Rae Kwan.”
“That’s a lovely name.”
She smiled. “Well, thank you, Daniel.”
“You’re so pretty,” he said without thinking.
She blushed a little.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to embarrass you.”
“I’m not embarrassed. Just a little saddened to see such a kind soul suffer like this.”
“Don’t be. We’re all gonna die anyway.”
She lost her beautiful smile. “I sure hope not. I don’t want to die.”
Good job, dumbass.
“I apologize. It’s been a long day. Let’s change the mood that I’ve just crapped all over. Tell me more about you? That is, if you still want to talk.”
It was her turn to tell her life story. She had also lost someone she loved, not too long ago, when the Zarlacks last attacked the planet. She was an archaeologist, studying all sorts of ancient myths. She had published a few books before the Star Alliance came to Earth. Her peers never took her theories seriously.
“Why not? What did you theorize?”
“That all myths and legends must have a root in reality. That they must somehow be linked to aliens visiting this place over the centuries. After all, everything that appeared magic to us in the past could have been advanced technologies.”
“Well, you’re right about one of them. But, of course, you know that already.”
“The Olympians, yes. But what about the Asgards? Or the Egyptian gods? Perhaps there are more gods out there; advanced alien beings that could help us defend this world.”
“My friend Chase thinks exactly like you. I remember him and Ares talking about one of these, but they called them the Asgardians.”
“Ares? As in the god of war, right?”
“Yes. A dead one, but somehow he still appears in the form of pure energy.”
She nodded with interest. “Fascinating.”
“Yeah, he’s quite a nice guy, in fact. He’s been invaluable in helping us lately.”
“Do you think I could meet him one day?”
“Sure. That is, if I’m welcome back on board my ship. Well, not really my ship per se, but . . . you know.”
She smiled warmly. “It would mean a lot to me. While my peers no longer consider me a hack, they’re still reluctant to provide me with the star charts data I would need to try locating more ancient races.”
“That doesn’t seem fair,” said Daniel with a frown.
“My boss isn’t really a good guy. More the type of person who would rather get shot than admit he’s wrong about anything. So when Aphroditis spoke to us and validated my theories . . . Let’s just say he was not a happy camper. Rather than give me a break and finally grant my requests he’s demoted me and assigned me to boring work that not even assistants would enjoy.”
“That must be frustrating.”
“You have no idea. Especially since Aphroditis’ announcement. I could feel her love for us, and I truly believed my life would change thanks to her intervention. But one doesn’t change the pitfalls of human nature—like ego, pride or pettiness—with just words. Don’t get me wrong. We’ve made incredible progress in the few months since the Star Alliance arrival on our planet, and many things have changed for the better, but not everything.”
“I’m sorry to hear you’re not allowed to continue your studies.”
“My research.”
“Right, sorry. Perhaps I could help. I’m not sure how much my words count these days, but it doesn’t hurt
to try.”
“That would mean the world to me, Daniel. Thank you. I always felt I was born to accomplish something with my life, and I want to be given the chance to do just that.”
Daniel realized how narrow-minded, egoistic and self-destructive he had been lately. Some people wanted nothing more than to be part of finding a solution to the world’s constant threats. He, on the other hand, had just wanted to flee from his own sorrow. And Rae was right. What would Fillio and Chase think of him?
“Let’s get out of here. There’s a ship in orbit with your name on it, Rae.”
Chase took a defensive stance just in time to parry his doppelganger’s first wave of attacks. He was really fast but that shouldn’t have surprised him. He was him, after all. He dodged and parried a long and powerful combo of kicks and punches. Then it was his turn to go on the offensive. He entered fury mode with the push of a single thought, but his opponent did the same and blocked all his attacks.
How was he to be faster or stronger than himself?
The stray thought cost him time he didn’t have and the other Chase smashed him to the ground with a powerful elbow strike.
Right, head in the game.
Chase back flipped onto his feet and sent a few fireballs towards his darker self, who blocked all of them, reducing the fireballs to nothingness with ease.
Then Dark Chase unleashed his own series of energy attacks, which Chase easily dodged by teleporting away before they were upon him. But he lost visual contact with his opponent, who had also teleported away. To behind him, in fact. The pain of a powerful kick sent him crashing into the ground face first.
This is not going to be a fun fight.
Chase got up and turned back towards Dark Chase.
“You’re not even trying to fight me,” said his double.
“So you can speak?”
“I’m you, so what do you think?”
“You’re not really me.”
“As long as that’s what you think, you won’t manage to hit me once.”
Was his own self trying to teach him something? This was really strange. Chase didn’t enjoy being told what to do in general, let alone by a copy of himself. But perhaps that was the point of the exercise. Now that he was in full control of his abilities, as was his double, they would fight on equal ground, and this fight could take forever.
“You’re not using all your senses; you need to feel this fight.”
Chase didn’t understand how his other self could know more than he did. It didn’t make much sense, but perhaps he should listen anyway.
“How do you propose I do that?”
“Forget your sight. Close your eyes and fight me by instinct.”
Chase looked at Hades who nodded back at him.
Right, fighting blind. It seemed unlikely to work, but he knew better by now than to argue with . . . well, with himself, in a sense.
Chase closed his eyes.
“Try to feel me coming at you.”
“Very well.”
Chase did feel something, but that was the powerful punch he received in the guts, which forced him to open his eyes. It pissed him off, and he tried slashing at Dark Chase with his elbow but hit nothing but air.
He looked around but couldn’t find him with his eyes.
“They’re useless, so close them.”
“So you can sucker-punch me again?”
“If that’s what it takes so you understand this, then yes. As many times as it takes.”
Chase trusted that Hades knew what he was doing, so he closed his eyes again. He felt something, wind, movement all around him. But it was coming so fast he had no idea how to use that information.
Hades talked to Chase in his mind. Go deeper within yourself. Forget where you are and what you’re fighting for. You need to surrender to the now, be fully in sync with this fight. Only if you remove the why and how will you be able to fight on pure instinct, without fear blocking your actions and making you hesitate. Doubts need to disappear from your mind altogether when you fight.
It made sense. The doubts and fears he had created had cost him dearly in the past. In fact, he was on the brink of death now largely because of them.
He sensed a powerful blow coming and reacted by lowering his head. He felt the wind from a kick pass just above his head.
Yes!
But then a knee thrust into his left kidney sent him to the ground.
“You’re learning, but you need to stay focused in the moment. Do not succumb to any thoughts or you’ll lose it.”
Chase was starting to get it. He didn’t know how long it would take to reach this state, but he knew deep in his heart that he had to.
He rose back up, closing his eyes again. “Let’s keep at it.”
“That’s just great!” said Keera as Ryonna passed out.
She activated the regen tank. The green liquid filled the tank and the regeneration sequence started its work on Jonas. Keera looked at his vitals and saw how low they were. A few minutes more and he would have been beyond help. It had been a close call.
But there was no time to think about that now. She needed to tend to Ryonna’s wounds, which also seemed severe. And hopefully her own right after that. She had broken a few bones and probably had some internal bleeding.
Unfortunately, she hadn’t taken into account that Ryonna was at least three times her own weight. On a perfectly good day she could have found a way to lift her into the next regen tank. But in her current state, this was not a realistic option.
“Crap. How the hell am I supposed to lift her now?”
She opened a holo-interface from a console nearby and her head started to spin.
No, no, no, I mustn’t fall asleep now.
She looked around but her vision was becoming blurrier by the minute. She reached for a cabinet containing various hypo-sprays. She tried reading their labels but couldn’t. She was having a hard time staying conscious so she took a chance. She injected herself with the one in her hand. When she felt no improvement, she went for the next one. That one made her even drowsier. She had probably injected herself with a sedative.
You gotta be shitting me.
She had to stay awake or she might never wake up again. So she injected herself with yet another medicine. Soon she felt some pain relief. That was good news and it reduced the terrible ringing in her head. She had probably injected herself with a painkiller, but that didn’t help her current drowsiness. When she felt as though she couldn’t keep her eyes open any longer, she reached inside the cabinet and randomly took yet another vial. She loaded it into the hypo-spray and injected herself.
A surge of energy filled her body almost immediately. When her sight returned she saw she had injected herself with adrenaline. It was a temporary solution, and already she wondered if the mix of different random medicines was a good idea. Her heartbeat was rapid and there was a growing pain in her chest. There was no time to worry about it now. What was done, was done. She was still too weak to lift Ryonna but her mind was clearer and an idea came to her.
She brought the holo-interface back up and located the nearest sentry in an area where they hadn’t been yet. She reprogrammed it as fast as she could, already feeling the effect of the adrenaline wearing off. She could always inject herself again, but her instinct told her she was intoxicated enough from the blind mixture of chemicals she had taken.
When the sentry entered the med-bay, it hovered a few inches above Ryonna, just as she had intended.
Now it’s time to see if my hacking skills are up to snuff.
“Sentry, use your tractor beam to move the patient into an upright position.”
“Command accepted,” chirped the sentry. It shot a ray of blue light that grasped Ryonna’s body. Soon she was hovering, more or less in an upright position. Keera stumbled taking her next step and almost crashed her head into the very regen tank she was going towards. She opened the tank and asked the sentry to put Ryonna’s body inside. She closed the regen
tank and activated it.
There were only two regen tanks in this medical facility. Keera felt she only had moments before she would lose consciousness. She dragged herself to the nearest medical bed and lay down. She was about to pass out. Out of desperation she tried vocal commands.
“Computer?”
“Online,” answered a female voice.
“Medical emergency . . .” was all Keera could muster before her brain went to sleep.
Chris and Sarah arrived on board the training ship and were met by Spiros and a battle droid that introduced herself as Gaia.
“So let me get this straight; you would like this boy,” said Gaia, pointing at Chris, “to start training at such an early age?”
“He’s only a few days old. He’s Chase’s son, as you know, and he’s growing at an accelerated pace. And no, I don’t want to, but he does.”
Spiros got to one knee and looked into the boy’s eyes. “Aren’t you too young, my little friend?”
“Don’t let my physical appearance trouble you. I know how to fight,” said Chris, holding a cute fist in front of him.
Spiros looked at his mother. Sarah shrugged.
He rose to his feet and played with his beard. “I don’t feel comfortable sending you to fight the battle droids.”
“I could do it,” said Gaia to everyone’s surprise.
“What? I’m really surprised you’d volunteer for that,” said Spiros.
“Why? How am I any different from this boy? Mentally and in human terms I’m probably older than all of you combined and I’m only a few months old. I can relate to him. Plus, the droids have been programmed to battle as powerfully as they can, not to pull their punches. I can adjust the level of fighting and let him start at his level. I can evaluate his battle readiness progressively and safely.”
“If I may,” interjected Sarah. “I thought he would just use the gravity thingy you guys developed for Chase and just take some laps.”
“That would work too, but he could try to show some moves to Gaia.”
“Spiros, she’s made of metal. He could hurt himself.” Sarah looked at Gaia. “No offense.”
Universe in Flames – Ultimate 10 Book Box Set: An Epic Space Opera Adventure Page 158