I checked my side, Sumahon was still there in his rat leather holder and climbed into the ship. My eyes shot to where In’ah had been before and though I knew it was silly to hope, I was disappointed that she wasn’t there waiting for me with her usual smirk.
“Is there anything you can tell me about this ship? You mentioned before that you had begun to interface with it, did you figure it out?” I asked aloud, I saw no point in being quiet when trapped like rats here in this cave.
“The data..err information it sent has been hard to decipher, but I can open a lower section of the ship…I think.” Sumahon’s voice sounded strained as if he was trying to lift something heavy. “Aw, there we go!”
On the side of the ship furthest from the dead man a section of the floor slid back. I walked over to the new opening and saw that it opened to a gray storage room of some kind. I lowered myself down and ignored the stinging of my several shallow cuts that littered my arm, chest, and face. The lizard had left his mark before dying.
“So what do I do now?” I asked Sumahon. The room down here was slightly larger than the upper section and was filled with boxes latched into shelves.
“This is the supplies and ammo storage for the ship. A small number of basic survival items such as food, water, and personal weapons, but mostly it stores replacement parts for the ship. I’m still deciphering the ship’s schematics, but when I’m finished, I could walk you through the repairs and we could leave!”
“I’m not leaving until I’ve rescued In’ah,” I said, running my hand along with the words written into the crates. I couldn’t make heads or tails of this language, but it felt familiar.
“Neak’o,” Sumahon said, using my name for the first time that I could remember, “We don’t know that she is even still alive. They aren’t keeping your kind alive. She is dead, let her go.”
“No,” I spoke firmly into Sumahon from our connection. It wasn’t a yell or an angry demand. I spoke the word and it became a command.
“Yes, I see. Well in the case we need to get out of here. There is an explosive ordinance in the furthest crate on the bottom. It should come free with minimal effort and I will walk you through arming the device.”
Sumahon spoke almost robotically. A part of me knew that my command, my thought, had added a measure of control over him that I hadn’t ever put there before. I felt as if I took a piece of him away, but we needed to work together on this, and I quickly forgot my misgivings.
I pulled the long crate free of the low shelf and flipped open two silver latches. The dull black surface of the lid slowly opened on its own accord. Inside set into the box itself were six perfectly spherical sapphire balls.
“Carefully reach below the protective foam on the left side of the container and you will find a thin rectangular device. Pull it free and hold on to it for now. Then close the container. You will need to get the container outside through the upper floor. The cargo section door is currently under a few feet of earth and is not responding to my request to open.”
I did as Sumahon instructed. It took time to awkwardly lift the container through the opened section of the floor, but it was surprisingly light, so the work wasn’t hard. With a final heave, I pulled it unto the white upper floor of the ship.
I noticed as I lifted my own arm onto the white floor and smeared a mixture of red and sapphire blood on the clean floor that something odd was happening to my wounds.
I hadn’t taken too much time to examine my wounds before, but I knew that they’d been more severe than the small scratches I was looking at now.
“Sumahon,” I said, “What is happening to my wounds.”
“You are healing,” Sumahon said matter-of-factly.
“But how am I healing so fast?”
“The ships nanotechnology is accelerating your healing by means I don’t fully understand. In fact, if you would allow me to speak freely again, I think I can hypothesize on a few things that will shed some light on current events.”
“I don’t think I understood half of what you just said,” I shot back. Was he saying these strange words just to confuse me?
“I was wondering how, if In’ah had been injured as badly as she claimed, she was able to be okay only a short time later but I didn’t have the connection with the ship that I had then, so it remained a mystery. It also explains the bleeding pilot. It would appear he had been injured and returned to his ship in hopes of medical help. But he died before the full damage could be repaired, and irreparable brain damage occurred. Thus the nanobots began their secondary function. They preserved the body and the ship was set into stasis mode until the proper authorities could come and claim the body. I think it also explains our lizard friend who found the ship. There has been an emergency signal going out from the ship, albeit a weak one, probably since this ship’s pilot died.”
“I don’t really understand what or how any of that is possible,” I said slowly, Sumahon was beginning to just assume I could grasp these strange topics that I had no frame of reference for and it was getting frustrating. I focused on what little I did understand.
“So the ship heals my kind and it healed In’ah. So is there a way I can bring the healing with me into battle?”
“No. The technology relies on a special form of energy that is generated by these ships’ core engines. From what I can tell, these engines can last forever if properly maintained, another task the nanobots seem capable of doing.”
“Fine. Then let’s focus on getting out of here for now. Have you found any other useful information, maybe weapons I can use in the battle against the lizardmen?”
“The ship does have a store of small arms, but from my estimation, you own Sri blasts that are several times more powerful than anything this ship has in terms of particle weapons.”
I sighed but didn’t respond. Of course, my own power would be the best thing I had and not some amazing weapon that could just wipe the invaders from the planet with the press of a button.
My bare feet nearly slipped on the smooth surface of the steps as I stepped backward. I was holding tight to the large case of explosives and taking Sumahon’s advice of being careful with them very serious. If these were anything like the ones the lizardmen had brought, I wouldn’t want to be this close when they exploded.
A faint scurrying caught my attention, but when I turned my head, I saw nothing. I set the box up not far from where I wanted to blow a hole in the wall and released the latches.
“You will only want to use one. Stand by while I scan for optimal placement.”
I heard another scurrying noise and spun around. Still nothing. I peered into the darker corners in the distance but could make out no form.
“Are we alone in here?” I asked Sumahon as a skittering noise like small tapping of feet had me looking another direction.
“I set up your display to keep you from asking such redundant questions. Let me check…Oh, it appears we are not alone. The blast must have opened into a separate cavern just below us and several large arachnids are filling this room.”
“Arachnids?” I asked, confused. I had never heard of such creatures before, but I didn’t have to wait for a description from Sumahon as something fell from the ceiling directly in front of me. The light from the ship behind it silhouetted the beast. Several long spiny legs ended in knife-like pointers that clicked against the rocks. I watched as the midsection shifted down towards me, and I caught a glance of dark brown hairy flesh. Two large pincers snapped in my direction, and some kind of spit flung towards me, narrowly missing.
I heard a sizzle and pop from the stone next to me as whatever the spider had spit ate away at the rock like water into mud.
“I’d avoid that acid spit if I were you. That is one nasty spider.”
Sumahon’s words barely registered as I dodged to the right to avoid another globule of spit.
The sp
ider reared itself up to its full height, nearly twice as tall as me, and sprung downward, lashing one leg out towards me like a spear.
Again I narrowly dodged the attack and made no attempt at fighting back. I was so utterly shocked at the look and sudden appearance of the spider that fighting back hadn’t yet registered in my mind, until now.
I stood still and let the power build in my hands. Before I could gain sufficient Sri, I was forced to jump aside or be skewered by the spider’s sharp legs. Again I failed to gather enough Sri energy to repulse an attack. I need distance.
But the spider was unrelenting in its attacks. I dodged backward and to the side, being pushed closer to the wall. Soon I would be unable to dodge at all. If I could stand still long enough to let off a strike, maybe I could build enough to do an energy punch again?
And so I tried. While dodging and much slower than I’d have liked, I let the energy build until my hands pulsed. I didn’t have the focus to release the blasts, but I might be able to connect a punch. The spider must have seen how limited my dodging was becoming because it increased its attacks and even began to lunch its meaty head forward to strike me with its pincers.
I had been lucky so far, but my luck ran out as I hoped backward and slammed against the rocks. A speared leg pierced through my arm, and I was caught. The spider creature made a victorious screech and spit a mouthful of venom onto my chest.
I howled in pain, the spear through my arm had hurt, but this pain was like no other I had ever experienced. It was like a million tiny needles pierced my flesh and wormed into my flesh deeper and deeper. Just when I thought I knew the limits of pain, the beast brought its head down, and my blood turned to fire.
It was biting me, I realized. Through all the pain and anguish, I could feel warmth in my hands, and I knew, somehow, I hadn’t yet let the Sri dissipate.
I lashed out with my hands, but the thing’s legs kept me from making contact and releasing the energy. Blackness swam at the edges of my vision, and I knew I need to do something quickly, or I would die.
“Sumahon, help me,” I screamed the words out in desperation, but if he responded, I didn’t understand him.
Then something beyond words filled me, a course of action. And I acted upon it. I wrapped my Sri infused hands around the two legs pinning me down and released. A satisfying crunch and a screech filled my ears.
The spider fell back, and beside me lay two severed stumps from its front most legs. I gasped for breath, but the fire in my blood was still pounding into me and made it difficult to breathe. With effort, I removed the several foot long section of spider leg from my shoulder and raised it in front of me like a sword with my good arm.
The spider had backed away but seemed mostly recovered from the loss of its legs. It would be harder, I hoped, for it to attack without its two front legs, but it still had half a dozen more.
I needed to attack now or die and become spider food. I threw down the spider leg and straightened. My eyes, blurry as they were, stared into the dozens of eyes the spider had and dared it to attack me. My finger went to my shoulder, and I felt the energy come faster than ever before.
The tip of my two fingers filled a large area around me with light as I prepared my attack. When I felt I could hold no more, I snapped my arm forward. The spider lurched towards me just as my attack aimed for its head, shot out in a powerful beam of light.
I missed.
The attack smashed through the open door of the ship, and loud alarms could be heard immediately blaring from inside of the ship.
I barely caught sight of a cloud of green smoke coming from the ship as the large body of the spider collided with me. Blackness swam across my vision once more and then overtook me completely.
Chapter Twenty
Name: Neak’o
Current Path: Sri Projector
Level 17, 53,210/170,000 Exp, Energy: 230/390, Spirit: 150, Phys: 55
13 AP
Abilities:
Lesser Sturdy ( Racial Passive )
Sri Projecting
Sri Vibrations
Brink of Death
Skills:
Sri Blast Level 10 -> Continuous Sri Blasts Level 8
Sri Kata Level 4 -> Improved Dodge Level 5
Finger Cannon Level 9
Soft Steps Level 6
Inspect Level 3
Sri Fists Level 3
Spec Tree:
Improved Sri Regeneration [5/5]
-Special Ability Unlocked: Brink of Death: When returning from the brink of death while in the presence of nanobots, keeping you a step away from death, your body is put into a state of forced resilience. This was an ability used by ancient Ki’darthian warriors to overcome the greatest odds against them.-
I awoke to the sound of Sumahon reading prompts. Immediately I pushed against the heavy weight on my chest, surprisingly it moved with barely any effort, and I was able to breathe freely again.
The body of the spider was porous and stank sharply of death. I stood, again surprised at how easy I moved. My shoulder and chest were a mess of tattered clothing, but the flesh beneath was smooth to the touch. I’d been healed by the nanobots? I looked to the ship and saw that the ground still had a faint haze of green laid out evenly in the open cavern.
“Toxic fumes,” Sumahon said, “Some sort of byproduct that the engine creates. I am guessing that the tanks of the ship were filled far beyond capacity from the years it stayed idle, and it didn’t take much for the tanks to burst. I knew Ki’darthians could adapt, but this is insane. You are breathing the stuff as easily as you would air.”
I studied the prompts that still lingered in the air ahead of my vision and started.
“I’ve doubled in power? How is that even possible?” I asked Sumahon. Surely he had changed the way power was calculated again, and this was just the byproduct of his need to calculate things.
“It would appear you have an ancestral ability that can be leveraged to gain huge increases in power, but I wouldn’t try coming back from the brink of death again. It would appear it was only with the help of the nanobots from that ship that you were able to adapt to death itself. Anywhere else and you wouldn’t have stayed alive long enough to make the necessary changes. Also, the ship has been exhausted of nanobots. I made a distress call to them and emptied the entire ship in a nearly vain attempt to heal you after you lost consciousness. I slipped away just as they ventured past the ship, and after doing what they could, they ceased to function without the field of power the ship creates. Basically, this is your one freebie, so don’t get in over your head again.”
“It’s a miracle,” I stuttered and stumbled towards the ship. The light was dimmer than I remembered, but the ship seemed intact.
“Have you forgotten about the very sensitive explosive? We still need to place and detonate that if we hope to escape. You may have adapted to the poisonous and low breathable air quality in this cavern, but eventually, the air will run out completely, and you will die.”
“I need a change of clothing,” I said simply. I tugged at the remaining rags that covered my chest, and they gave way easily. In the light of the ship, I studied my new body. It really was a new body, I thought, as I traced the rippling muscles of my arms and chest.
I think I was taller than I had been as well. It was like my entire body had grown into itself. My arms didn’t rival that of Aetex’s yet, but I had a sinuous quality to them that I didn’t remember seeing on Aetex’s large muscular build. I clenched my fist and felt the power this new body held. I felt a match for anyone, anything.
My feet padded on the cold metal of the ship’s entry ramp, and I climbed inside.
“Can you locate any change of clothing or armor and where to find it?” I said to Sumahon, I was already moving towards the lower section, my feet swirling the green gas inside the ship.
&
nbsp; “It would appear there is a set of battle armor here on the bridge, one moment while I release the compartment.”
Air hissed, and a large section of the wall opened up. Inside was a familiar outfit, but with a few differences. An expandable skin-tight bodysuit, just like what Aetex had fashioned me with, sat on top, and I stripped myself bare and slipped into it.
If it could be possible, I felt even stronger just wearing this mesh-like cloth. When I tensed my muscles, it was like the cloth added to the force of my tension and released just as easy. There was a vest, gloves, boots, and even a helmet.
I slipped into the dark blue boots and let out a sigh. Comfort like I’d never known washed through me, my feet hard with calluses and tension relaxed. Then I slipped the vest with the midsection cover over, I wasn’t sure if it’d fit at first, but it stretched just enough and conformed to my body without restricting my movement in the slightest. Then the gloves that also somehow fit snuggly onto my four fingers.
I flexed my muscles and swung my arms about, I felt safe, strong and free of restricting movements. I left the helmet where it was while I fished through the pile of rags I had stripped out of, finding what I was looking for I stood. The rat leathered belt wasn’t in the best shape, but it did its job still, so I affixed it around my waist and then onto my leg.
I pulled Sumahon out of the holder and examined him. He had changed drastically.
Gone was the simple brown leather, replaced by a dark blue material like the armor that I wore. It even had the light sapphire blue and gold accents like the armor. He had inscribed his name on the cover, along with what looked like battle scenes from our adventures. The pictures were ingrained with gold and stood out.
“As you gain power I do as well,” Sumahon said almost too casually, “I’ve been working on the design during my breaks from research and finally had enough power to put it into place after you jumped in levels. Also, if you place me back into that rat fleshed holder, I should be able to expand my influence onto it as well and add some impr-”
Reincarnation Page 15
