Evolution

by R S Penney

  The Earth floated in the blackness of space, catching the light of the distant sun. A low hum filled the air as the ship's engines powered up, and then the planet seemed to collapse into streams of blue and green light that flowed around the ship to the front.

  They were on their way.

  Epilogue

  Deep in the bowels of an Overseer ship, a large cavernous chamber with reddish walls of veiny skin was filled with a pool of organic goop. It was a room that was used for only one purpose, a room that hadn't been accessed in years.

  The molecules within the pool began to swirl, linking together to form chains of carbon atoms, constructing amino acids and then complex proteins. Within minutes, a functioning DNA strand was replicating itself.

  It started with a skeletal system, building bones and joints, a skull with teeth and deep eye sockets that looked like pits. Muscle tissue came next, surrounding the bones, laced with veins and capillaries. A nervous system stretched throughout the entire body, sending electrochemical signals that ordered the heart to pump.

  Skin formed, covering the tissue with a protective barrier. Black hair sprouted from the skull at an accelerated rate, growing to shoulder length.

  A hand broke through the surface of the pool, trails of goop dripping from every finger. It trembled with new sensation as consciousness seeped into the newly-formed brain like water through a hole in the roof.

  A face with a gaping mouth emerged, organic matter flowing down the man's throat and making him cough. What was this place? Everything seemed so muddled and foggy. He had been somewhere else before…

  The man sat up.

  Pressing the heels of his hands to his eye-sockets, he groaned as he tried to get his bearings. “Where…” He looked up, blinking. “Where have you taken me? What have you done to me?”

  The memories began to coalesce in his mind, and suddenly he understood. He knew his purpose, the reason he had been created. He remembered it all with perfect, vivid clarity. The loss…The humiliation.

  He remembered the look of hatred on Jena Morane's face as she staggered into the Nexus while he just stood there in a euphoric stupor. Bonding with the Key had been an experience unlike any other. It had left him unable to respond, but he had accomplished his task. The Gates were now open.

  He remembered dying.

  And the abyss beyond this life. A void of endless nothingness where he had been unable to see or hear or touch. Conscious but unable to affect the world in any way. Left with nothing to do but choke on his own hatred. It was a fate worse than the most horrid descriptions of Hell any human mind could imagine, and the Inzari had saved him from it as they had once before.

  He climbed out of the pool of goo, naked and shivering, dropping to one knee on the shore. Sensation! Sweet, glorious sensation! He would gladly endure the worst pain over what he had experienced in that place.

  “Why?” he whispered.

  You have not yet completed your function, the Inzari whispered in his mind. A part of him wanted to insist that he had failed, that he allowed himself to be destroyed, but the Inzari did not see things as humans did. The destruction of his mortal body was nothing more than a minor setback. He had accomplished his task. He had opened the Gates, and so they had rewarded him with a reprieve from the emptiness.

  Hunter, Lenai and their allies did not understand. They stood against the Inzari out of sheer ignorance. There was no victory against the Inzari. You could serve or spend an eternity in that empty void. And unlike the priests of every religion, he had the experience to verify his claims. It did not matter. He was himself again, and he remembered all of it.

  He was Grecken Slade, and his enemies would pay for what they had done to him.

  The End of the Fifth Book of the Justice Keepers Saga.

  Contact the Author

  Follow me on Twitter @Rich_Penney

  E-mail me at keeperssaga@gmail.com

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  Questions, comments and theories are welcome.

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