Bender of Worlds

by Isaac Hooke

  It didn’t work. How could it? But his friend was an alien and didn’t know any better.

  “I don’t want you to watch this, my friend,” Tane told the dweller. “I’m... she’s gone.”

  “Which is exactly why I’m coming with you,” G’allanthamas said. “I swore I would follow you to my last breath, and I will. What sort of friend am I, if I can’t be at your side to comfort you when you need it most? When you have lost that which you value more than anything else in this universe?”

  It was true. All the items he had. All the Essenceworks and skills he’d learned. All of them were nothing compared to the loss of Sinive. He would have given them all up to have her back again.

  The thought cut through him like a plasma bolt and he slumped heavily against Lyra. She gasped before compensating. He tried to aid her, but he knew he was probably little more than dead weight. That armor of hers must have bestowed a substantial strength bonus, because he doubted she would have been able to hold up his weight, given how little he was helping, and how tired she must have been.

  Lyra steered between the blast craters and across the runnel his last works had carved into the asphalt, and took him toward the terminal. She stepped over and around the debris that littered the entrance: broken glass; smashed desks; robotic limbs; human body parts.

  “Your prophecy says I will either save the universe, or destroy it?” Tane said. “It’s beginning to look like the latter. Now do you believe me when I tell you I’m not who you think I am? I’m not the Bender of Worlds. I’m… a monster.”

  She remained silent as she walked him past the smashed doors and into the terminal. Inside, the portions closest to the entrance were relatively clean of debris, swept clear when Tane had transported the gates outside with Air Current.

  She led him to a bloody form near one of the remaining control consoles on the far side of the terminal. The glass tank containing the sponge life form beside it had shattered, the life-giving liquid draining out so that the sponge inside had turned the dark gray of death.

  I’ve killed even these simple, innocent lifeforms.

  And then all guilt, all feeling left him. Because he saw her.

  Sinive.

  Her bloody form sprawled on the floor behind the console. Jed’s pistol lay abandoned next to her.

  Lyra let go of him and Tane collapsed heavily beside Sinive. He tried to pull her lifeless form into his arms, but he was too weak, especially considering the added weight of her helmetless spacesuit. So he lay down beside her instead and wrapped an arm around her body, and held her. Simply held her.

  He moaned, barely able to see for the blur that consumed his vision.

  Lyra dropped to her knees beside him. “Forgive me.”

  Tane said nothing. He simply held on for dear life. He had harbored a small, final hope that Lyra might be able to save her, but the Volur’s latest words shattered that.

  Sinive was gone.

  He blinked away the blur to gaze at Sinive’s crumpled form under his arm. The grime smeared across her perfect face. The hole in her chest assembly. The blood from the wound underneath.

  The blood.

  So much of it.

  A shadow fell over him, and he looked up. A dweller in an environmental suit towered overhim.

  Tane was filled with a sudden panic until he realized it was G’allanthamas.

  Tane slumped. He had forgotten all about the alien.

  He returned his attention to Sinive and tightened his grip around her. He wished G’allanthamas would just go away and leave him to his grief.

  “We have to go,” Lyra said softly.

  “Not yet,” Tane said.

  He snuggled against Sinive’s chest assembly.

  “She is not lost,” G’allanthamas announced.

  Tane ignored him. He ran a hand through Sinive’s blood-matted hair.

  “She is not lost,” the dweller repeated.

  Tane shot G’allanthamas an angry look. Rage flowed through his veins, giving him strength, and he could almost sense the Essence waiting for him beyond the edges of perception. Almost.

  “Are you blind?” Tane said. “Look at her! She’s gone! Nothing can bring back the dead! Nothing!”

  “There is a way…” G’allanthamas said.

  Tane simply stared at the alien. He wasn’t sure if he should dare allow a spark of hope to arise inside him.

  “Speak,” Lyra told the dweller.

  “The archaeoceti could raise the dead,” G’allanthamas said.

  “Ah,” Lyra said. She seemed disappointed.

  Tane frowned. “Raise the dead… I’m not sure I like the sound of that.”

  “Perhaps a poor choice of words,” G’allanthamas said. “Restore to life. Revive. She will be exactly as she was before.”

  “But the archaeoceti are no more,” Lyra said.

  “They do not exist,” the dweller agreed. “At least, not in this universe. But there is a way to reach them.”

  Tane gazed at his friend for a long moment, trying to gather his thoughts, trying to see through the fog of grief.

  But G’allanthamas must have misinterpreted his pause as doubt, because the alien said: “There is a way to bring her back, I swear it to you. The cost will be great. But it can be done.”

  “I don’t care about the cost,” Tane finally said. “Tell me what I must do. Where I must go.”

  “There is a certain system near the galactic core,” G’allanthamas said. “In territories formerly occupied by the archaeoceti. A system your star charts name Aegean Tetragon. Go there, and you will find what you seek.”

  “That system has never been visited by human probes or ships,” Lyra said.

  “No, it has not,” G’allanthamas agreed.

  “Let’s say we find them, as you say,” Tane told the alien. “How can we be sure they’ll help us?”

  “We can’t be, of course.” G’allanthamas seemed hesitant, as if unsure he wanted to relate his next words. Finally he continued. “You cannot complete your destiny until you go. For you see, the archaeoceti will be expecting you. They, too, have a prophecy about you. They call you the Qumolongmar. He Who Crosses Death.”

  “I don’t care about their prophecies. All I care about...” He glanced at Sinive’s body underneath his arm, then looked to Lyra. “We put her in stasis, and bring her to Aegean Tetragon. If there’s a chance we can bring her back, of course we have to take it.”

  Lyra nodded. “Dweller, will you carry her?”

  “It would be an honor,” G’allanthamas said.

  That made Tane suddenly cry. He didn’t know why. Maybe it was because G’allanthamas held such a distaste for carrying humans—such an act was an insult to his kind after all—and yet he was willing to do it for Sinive without hesitation. Or maybe it was because the alien had always pretended to hate Sinive. But it was obvious he loved her like a sister.

  The alien gently wrapped his tentacles around Sinive, ever so gently, and Tane reluctantly relinquished his hold on her. G’allanthamas lifted her body and lowered her onto his carapace. The dweller crab-walked over the debris, and began the trip to the waiting starship outside.

  Tane wiped his eyes, and Lyra helped him up to serve as his crutch once more. Remembering something, Tane led her away from the site of Sinive’s fall.

  “What now?” Lyra asked.

  “There’s something I left behind here.” He surveyed the mess around him… there. He guided Lyra toward a small object abandoned next to a ruined desk. He picked it up: his beam hilt.

  It seemed like such a small, inconsequential weapon now, given the power he had just wielded. And yet he considered it to be one of his most valuable possessions. Well, as much as possessions could be valued, anyway. Life… it held so much more value.

  He secured the device to his utility belt and Lyra carried him toward the entrance.

  A man in an armored robe abruptly stood up from where he had been hiding behind a crumpled desk.

 
Chase.

  Lyra stiffened, and Tane thought she was about to launch some Essencework at the man. Assuming she still had the stamina for it.

  “Wait,” Tane said wearily.

  Lyra merely scowled at the Mancer. No Branchwork came from her. For now.

  “I thought you ran away?” Tane said.

  “I hid here the whole time,” Chase said. “I saw it all.”

  “Then you know what I truly am,” Tane told him.

  “I would have done the same if that was my woman,” the Mancer said. “In fact, I’m surprised you showed so much restraint. I would have destroyed this entire city, wiped all traces of it from this universe.”

  Tane studied the man uncertainly. He wasn’t sure if Chase was simply trying to kiss up to him, or what. Maybe he was telling the truth.

  The thought didn’t really make Tane feel any better.

  “I’m not going back,” Chase continued. “I follow you now.”

  Tane smiled weakly. An ironic smile.

  “Those who follow me die,” Tane told him.

  “If that’s my fate, so be it,” Chase said. “I’m through serving the Paramount Leader and his TSN. I only stayed as long as I did for my brothers and sisters who served at my side. But when the TSN sent us to our deaths…”

  Tane studied the man a moment longer. “We all have our reasons and motivations,” he said softly. “Come, then.”

  “Wait, can we truly trust him?” Lyra asked.

  “No,” Tane told her. He reached into his pouch and retrieved the last Restrainer he had. He tossed it to the man. “You want to follow me? Then you will wear this on your forehead at all times. Until I tell you to take it off.”

  “But—”

  “Do it,” Tane said.

  The man reluctantly placed the Restrainer on his head and slumped slightly when it took hold.

  “Good,” Tane told him. “To the ship. Lead the way.”

  Chase stumbled through the debris, while Lyra helped Tane behind him.

  Outside the terminal, Tane spotted something else that attracted his attention.

  “Wait,” Tane said.

  “There’s no time…” Lyra said.

  “Just a moment longer,” Tane said. He guided Lyra to a dead dweller, obviously Amaranth, since it had no environmental suit. The alien was too small to be S’Wraathar. That was good, because Tane wanted to kill that one himself.

  With Lyra’s help he knelt and retrieved the dark beam hilt that lay next to the alien corpse. He slid it into his storage pouch and then glanced at Lyra, but she had no comment.

  Tane reached the Mosaic and proceeded up the ramp. When he passed through the open airlock and into the ship proper, he was forced to walk sideways since he and Lyra wouldn’t fit the cramped passageways any other way. Outside, the ramp closed as the ship prepped for take off.

  Chase was waiting within the inner passage.

  “Gia, we have a new crew member,” Tane said. “I want Muse to disable his access to the Galnet. Also, Muse should monitor him at all times. I’ve given him a Restrainer, and Muse needs to sound an alarm if he takes it off without my approval.”

  “Got it,” Gia said over the comm.

  “Can you assign him quarters in the interim?” Tane pressed.

  “I have a storage closet in mind for him, yes,” Gia said. “Proceed to your right, Chancery.”

  “I prefer Chase,” the Mancer said. But he obeyed her directions.

  Lyra and Tane watched him go.

  “I still think it’s a mistake to let him come,” Lyra said.

  “The mistake is mine to make,” Tane said. “He fought for me out there. Risked his life. That’s something I can respect.”

  Lyra started to lead Tane toward his quarters.

  “How’s your leg by the way, Gia?” Tane transmitted. He remembered how bad her shattered limb had looked.

  “I’m still in sickbay, actually,” Gia said. “Where I’m operating the ship. The medical robots are patching me up as we speak.”

  He glanced at his overhead map. She was indeed in sickbay, next to Jed. He searched for the remaining passengers, and spotted the blue dot representing Chase heading toward a storage area, and G’allanthamas in cargo bay one, but there was no sign of Sinive. “Muse, where’s Sinive?”

  “Her body has been placed in stasis in cargo bay two,” Muse said. “Jed had one of his hacked delivery robots carry her there when the dweller arrived with the body. I’m truly sorry for your loss.”

  Tane spotted the dull indicator in the cargo bay where Sinive had been placed, and felt comforted that she was near.

  “Can I get access to the camera in that bay?” Tane asked the Mosaic’s AI.

  “Let me confirm your request with the captain,” Muse said.

  A moment later Tane received a share from the AI and put the video on screen. He saw Sinive inside a silver stasis pod, her face visible behind the glass pane near the top. The blood had been partially cleaned off her face, though her hair was still matted. She still wore Jed’s piercings, and looked almost like she was sleeping. He couldn’t tell if she remained within her spacesuit or not, since the glass pane wasn’t big enough.

  “Thank you,” Tane said.

  “I’m sorry again for your loss,” Muse said.

  “She’s not lost yet.”

  “Explain,” the Mosaic’s AI said.

  “I can’t,” Tane said. “Gall has offered me a small hope. Not a guarantee, mind you, but a hope. I intend to take him up on that hope.”

  The deck shook slightly: the ship was taking off.

  “I’m instructing Muse to skim close to the surface for a few hundred kilometers until we’re well clear of the city and its surface-to-air defenses,” Gia said over the comm. “Then we’ll head to jump altitude.”

  “You’re going to jump us?” Tane said in disbelief.

  “Of course,” Gia said.

  “What about your leg?”

  “No matter what state my leg is in when we reach jump altitude,” Gia said. “I’ll be in that jump chamber, I promise you. If I have to crawl there on my hands and knees, with my bloody leg dragged behind me, I’ll be there. I won’t let the TSN get their hands on us. Now tell me, do we have a destination?”

  “Aegean Tetragon,” Tane replied.

  “Hmm, that’s about three jumps away,” Gia said. “I’ll jump us to the first farthest system as soon as we have the altitude. I’ll alter our heat signature as soon as we arrive, but I reckon the TSN will jump ships to the surrounding systems as soon as we’re gone. I don’t suppose your Volur has any starship jump chamber experience?”

  “I do,” Lyra said. “Unfortunately, I’m in no condition to operate a jump chamber at the moment. Give me a couple of hours rest. Maybe several, actually.”

  “Well, I don’t think the TSN will find us before then anyway,” Gia said. “I’ll relay the first system to the Red Grizzly so your smuggler friend can follow.”

  Tane realized he hadn’t spotted Nebb on the overhead map. He double-checked. Yes, the smuggler wasn’t aboard.

  He glanced at Lyra. “What’s the story with Nebb?” he asked weakly.

  “I carried him aboard the Mosaic,” Lyra said. “And brought him to a storage closet located deep inside the hull, where he was shielded from the external mixnet of the city. I had the AI cut off access to its own local mixnet, and thus the Galnet, so that when I woke Nebb he was free of the influence of the control chip. I had him disable his chip’s mixnet discovery feature entirely so that he wouldn’t reconnect when he left the Mosaic. Then I escorted him aboard the Red Grizzly. There are likely some standing orders still embedded in his mind, so I’ve instructed Grizz to keep his connection to the Galnet severed. Just in case he tries to communicate our plans at some point. When you’ve recovered your strength, you can board his ship and remove the control chip from his mind, just as you did for me, so we won’t have to worry about that anymore.”

  “Can we trust that the TS
N hasn’t tampered with Grizz?” Tane asked.

  “Of course they have,” Lyra replied. “I had Nebb reboot the Red Grizzly’s AI as soon as we boarded, and he reverted to an earlier off-site backup. I also performed a quick sweep for listening devices in the different compartments and passageways; Nebb will perform a more thorough physical search at some point. After you’ve removed his control chip, we’ll have Nebb pore over the AI’s codebase in case the backups were compromised in any way. Until then, we won’t reveal our final destination to Nebb or Grizz.”

  When she reached his quarters, Lyra helped him inside and laid him down to rest on the bottom bunk.

  At that point, the exhaustion and all the events of the past few hours swept over him utterly, and Tane could no longer string together a sentence, let alone form any coherent thought. He simply lay there, staring at the upper bunk as Lyra departed.

  A flashing notification in the lower right of his HUD told him he had a bunch of alerts to review, but he didn’t even feel like looking at any of them. He would just have to do it later.

  He closed his eyes and tried to sleep, but couldn’t, at least for the first few hours. His mind remained haunted by Sinive’s death, and he replayed that fateful moment over and over in his head. His emotions were all over the place, alternating between the depths of despair and the throes of rage.

  Thankfully, the merciful, sweet oblivion of sleep found him at last.

  When he awoke, he checked the clock in the lower right of his HUD. He had slept for a full thirteen hours.

  He rubbed his eyes, but remained lying down. “Muse, what’s our status?”

  “We’ve made two jumps while you slept,” Muse said. “We’re scheduled to make the final jump to Aegean Tetragon in three hours. The Red Grizzly is also in this system, thirty million kilometers to starboard, thirty degrees inclination.”

  “Red Grizzly?” Tane said. “Who jumped her? Or him, I suppose.”

  “The Mancer, Chancery,” Muse said. “He transferred to the Red Grizzly when we were well outside the city. Apparently, while the Mancer has no ability to create distortion tunnels per se, he does possess some skill in Essence Jump Chamber Control.”