Prometheus Wakes (The Great Insurrection Book 4)

by David Beers

  He stood next to the Imperial Ascendant, Alexander de Finita. He'd met the man before, although until Alistair's transformation, he doubted Alexander would have remembered him.

  Now, he stood inside a place he'd never been. The Imperial Ascendant was slightly in front of him and to the side. A relatively large orb floated in front of the Ascendant, with a light circle around it. The Ascendant appeared to be speaking, but Alistair couldn't hear him.

  He looked around the room, seeing the royal purple of the Ascendancy on the walls. Other than that, this room was bare, other than the orb in the middle.

  This isn't real, he told himself, yet he didn't fully believe it.

  The dreams of the modified. They were something he'd never asked about, not even during all those times he'd seen his wife in them.

  Alistair walked up to the orb, and the light flashed to a single dot. It looked like an eye’s pupil, and it moved across the orb's surface until it was staring at him.

  "So, it's happened?"

  To Alistair, it sounded like multiple voices were saying the same words in unison. He instinctively took a step back, not understanding what was happening or how it could see him.

  "If you come," the orb said, "we will kill all that you love. Those who serve next to you will die. Your wife will die. Everything you hold dear will cease to exist, and we will make you watch it all happen. You must understand that before you continue this crusade. We may lose, but we will burn you to the ground in the process."

  Alistair had no idea who or what he was hearing. He turned to look at the Ascendant, but the man was staring at the orb with bewilderment on his face.

  He turned back to the orb. The single dot was still staring at him.

  "Do not return, Alistair Kane. Remain at peace where you are now or travel elsewhere. We don't care. Just do not return to Earth. Not if you care about those who serve you and those who love you."

  Alistair blinked, expecting to see the orb in front of him again. It was gone, and so was the simple room with its royal purple decor. Alistair started to look at his new surroundings but stopped when he saw his wife. She was sitting at a window, staring out of it with tears in her eyes. It was obvious some had already fallen. Her face was on the verge of puffiness, and her eyes were red. She wasn't trembling, although her hands were clenched on her lap.

  Alistair crossed the small room with giant steps and had nearly reached his wife when he stopped.

  She turned to look over her shoulder. Surprise bordering on shock covered her face.

  She heard me, he thought. Or something very close to it.

  He didn't move, and she didn't turn away. The tears in her eyes were on the verge of falling, but she no longer looked sad. Luna looked frightened.

  "Is someone there?" she asked, her voice shaking.

  Slowly, Alistair sank to his knees so that he was at eye level with his wife. Her eyes darted around the room in fear.

  "It's me, love," he whispered.

  Luna's eyes grew wider. "Who's there?"

  "Allie. It's me—Allie," he answered, tears in his own eyes now. What was happening, where he was—those things had ceased to matter. He was in front of his wife for the first time in long months, and somehow she could sense him.

  His wife stood then, her hands trembling. She shook her head as if trying to clear something out.

  Alistair was staring up at her, about to say something else, but the room around him started to fade. "NO!" he shouted, "I don't want to leave!"

  He stood and reached for his wife, wanting to hold her despite the fear stamped on her face. Everything was fading, though, the vibrant colors turning black.

  As he wrapped his arms around her, there was nothing left to see—only darkness.

  Luna felt her heart thudding in her chest. She heard it in her ears and felt sweat popping out across her forehead, even as goosebumps rose on her arms.

  Seconds passed, each one feeling like an eternity.

  Luna’s breath was caught in her throat, her lungs still. She didn’t force herself to breathe but stared into the space before her.

  Had she heard his voice?

  Had she heard Alistair?

  It’s me—Allie.

  Whispers, if they could be called that. Luna wasn’t sure she’d heard anything, yet those three words kept ringing through her head.

  It’s me—Allie.

  Luna let the air exit her lungs. Her hands were shaking, and she folded them in her lap again.

  She’d been having those weird dreams ever since she was told he’d died. Alistair was always in the dreams, and they were unlike anything she’d ever experienced. The two of them were often in the past, but each of them did things slightly differently from how they had actually happened.

  Luna didn’t know what they’d meant, if anything.

  But this?

  Someone—or something—had been in the room with her. She’d felt their presence as if it had been a physical body right next to her.

  Tears flooded Luna’s eyes. She brought her shaking hands to her face and started weeping. Her shoulders heaved.

  It had felt like Alistair. It had felt like her husband.

  But that wasn’t possible, and Luna knew it. She understood that her mind was creating phantoms because of how much she missed him.

  Her life was frightening, and the only person who could bring her any solace was her husband. He wasn’t here, though. He couldn’t be here, no matter how much she wanted it to be so.

  Luna cried alone in her room inside the Imperial Residence. Later that day, she would meet with the Imperial Ascendant. He’d know she’d been crying.

  Even with that in the back of her mind, she couldn’t stop.

  She missed her husband and knowing that he was out there without her…

  It broke Luna’s heart.

  Alistair opened his eyes, panic gripping him. He surged upward and found strong hands holding him back. Alistair struggled, his hand throttling outward for purchase on whoever held him down.

  "Pro, calm down!"

  He held someone's neck in his hand, panic and rage possessing him.

  "PRO!"

  It was Thoreaux's voice, and it finally shoved through the shock of being next to his wife and then losing her. Alistair saw the room in front of him. The strong hands were Caesar's. He held the giant's neck, and there was a look of shock on the giant's face.

  Alistair released him and fell back on the cot.

  Thoreaux stood on one side, Caesar on the other.

  "What happened?" Alistair asked.

  "You got a little banged up in the battle," Thoreaux said, "but you’re stable now."

  Caesar's huge hands still held Alistair's shoulder, though the strength in them had lessened.

  "How long have I been out?" Alistair asked.

  He saw Thoreaux's lips draw into a line for a moment. "Two weeks. It got pretty close there for a while."

  Alistair blinked in disbelief. "Two weeks? What about the Myrmidons? Where are they?"

  "After you killed the one, they were as good as their word. They packed up and left. So long as we're here on this planet, they're not going to attempt anything. The one you chopped up…" Thoreaux shook his head and looked at Caesar.

  The giant's hand now rested on Alistair's shoulders. "He was not human, not gigante either. He was something else."

  Thoreaux nodded and found Alistair again. "We did an inspection of his remains. It was pretty interesting stuff, Pro. As far as I know, that's the first Myrmidon we’ve ever been able to look at. Those guys have biological material in them, but they've got a lot of non-biological stuff, too." He paused for a second. "How did you realize what he was or what he was going to do?"

  Alistair was lying back on the cot. It was hard for him to forget what he'd just seen, that floating orb and his wife and the realness he’d felt. As if he'd actually been there, across galaxies, with the Imperial Ascendant and Luna. The two standing next to him had no idea about it, th
ough. They were asking him questions about the fight. To Alistair, that was the furthest thing from his mind.

  "Where's the AllMother?" he asked, ignoring their question.

  "I'm not sure," Thoreaux answered. "The Terram said they could safely wake you up, so we wanted to be here when they did."

  Alistair closed his eyes. "Bring her to me."

  "Right now?" Thoreaux asked.

  He nodded. "Yeah. I need to talk to her. Just her, though. Everyone else can wait."

  "Okay, Pro. We'll go get her."

  Alistair could hear the skepticism in Thoreaux’s voice, but he didn't care at the moment. He didn't care about the soreness in his body, or what the Myrmidon had done to him. There'd be time for that later. Right now, he needed to know if what he'd seen had been real and how it was possible.

  Minutes passed, as did the adrenaline coursing through Alistair's veins. He looked around the room while he waited. The Terram had a lot of medical equipment in here, which contrasted awkwardly with the prehistoric-looking red stone walls they'd carved their habitations out of. Alistair didn't know what he was looking at, but he guessed it was what had kept him alive.

  Eventually, the old woman walked in. She paused at the door, crossing her arms over her stomach. "That was the first time I've ever been worried about you. I didn't know what they were made of or I would have said something. They aren't all like that one. The ones I killed on Pluto certainly weren't. He was different. Maybe special to my brother."

  "I don't care about that right now. I need you to listen and tell me what's happening," he said as he turned his head to look at her. "Come closer. I don't want anyone else hearing this."

  The AllMother did as he instructed, her arms still folded over her body. She looked tired and worn out. This was taking its toll on her; Alistair could see that. Perhaps his injury had scared her. Even so, he didn't truly care at that moment. He couldn't quit thinking about his wife, and that was all-consuming.

  "You know about the dreams, I take it?" he asked. "Being modified yourself and all."

  The old woman nodded.

  Alistair told her what he'd seen. He told her about all the dreams from when they’d first begun to this last one.

  When he finished, he looked at her. "I want to know what it means. I want to know if it's real."

  The AllMother glanced away from him at the room’s equipment. A lot of it was technology they didn't have on Earth. Some of the floating screens were visible. She walked over to one on the right and touched the side of it. It was not only a digital creation but physical as well. "I don't understand how this works, Alistair," she said. "I know that it does work, that it helped save your life, but I can't tell how. You are becoming like that to me. I know you can do things I could only dream of, but not how."

  "What are you saying?" he asked. "Those are just words. I need you to be specific. Are the things I'm seeing real?"

  "I can't say for certain, Alistair," she told him as she turned from the hanging screen. "I'll tell you what I think. You're evolving beyond anything I imagined. I think the first dreams you had were shared dreams. I imagine your wife had some of the same dreams. Your mind allowed you both to experience them. That's..."

  Her voice trailed off as she walked over to one of the ledges built into the wall and took a seat.

  "That in itself is new to me. When they talk about the dreams of the modified, the consensus is that sometimes the physically modified get a glimpse of things that happened in the past, or maybe in the future. I always believed it was a glitch from what my father did to us. Some kind of hangover in the system where the physically modified got a bit of my modification. My dreams were deeper than that, but I never shared a dream with anyone." She met his eyes. "I think what you did before you woke up is very, very different from anything I've heard of."

  "So I was there? In the room with my wife?"

  "I..." She paused for a second as if trying to find the words. "I don't know, Alistair. You are advancing far beyond anything I thought possible. The tech I used for you wasn't the same as my father's, and I spent years trying to expand it, to perfect it. Trying to make sure you'd have the best chance. None of the modifications were meant to produce anything like you're describing, though. You're venturing out beyond the original specifications."

  Alistair leaned his head back on the cot. "’Specifications?’" It sounded like he was some kind of tool. "What does it mean?"

  "It means you're going to be greater than I ever imagined," she said. "It means your powers are going to increase. I honestly can't say how far they’ll stretch."

  "I'm not in control of any of it," Alistair said. "Outside of my physical body, these modifications are doing as they please. I don't know how to control it. It's controlling me."

  The AllMother was quiet for a few seconds before asking, "Has the modification done anything bad to you? Has it hurt you or manipulated you in some way that hasn't been helpful, or at least neutral?"

  Alistair thought about the dreams that he'd apparently shared with his wife. Somehow their two minds had found a common place to meet. There hadn't been anything negative in the dreams. In fact, most of them had been enjoyable. Even this last one, where he saw that orb and then his wife, hadn't been negative, just shocking.

  "They're either neutral or helpful," he responded after a few moments.

  The AllMother nodded. "Perhaps you can't control them yet, or maybe you won't ever be able to, I honestly can't say. If they aren't doing anything to harm you, then I wouldn't worry about them too much."

  "Do you know what that orb was?" Alistair asked. "The one with the light on its exterior?"

  The AllMother once again grew quiet and looked at the technology floating through the room. "I've never heard of that before, but it concerns me. You said it sounded like many voices were speaking as one?"

  Alistair nodded.

  "But it didn't say who they were?"

  "No, just that they would kill everyone I loved. They, or it, would kill you, the movement, Luna. Everyone."

  The AllMother let out a long sigh. "The modification showed you something that you needed to see. At least, that's what I think is happening. I don't know what that orb is, but if the Ascendant was there, then it's important. You'll need to find that out, Prometheus, as we go forward. I think that's what it was showing you. There's more to this than I understand."

  Alistair closed his eyes. He could still see his wife's fearful face, wondering who was in the room with her. He couldn't focus on her right now. There was much to do, and he had to understand what state his body was in. "Thank you. Would you send Thoreaux back in?"

  "As you wish." The old woman stood and walked to Alistair's cot. She placed her hand on his shoulder, perhaps the first time the two had touched. "You scared me, but I'm glad you pulled through. I didn't realize how much I needed you, Alistair."

  It was an odd moment of vulnerability from the woman who had kept much of her life a secret, someone who had purposefully built a group of people who saw her as a demi-god, now showing Alistair her vulnerability. More, it was working on her physically as well. Seeing him unconscious for two weeks on this cot had drained her.

  "I'm here, AllMother," he replied. "I'm back. Send me Thoreaux. There's still a lot to do."

  She nodded and left the room. A couple of minutes later, Thoreaux came back in with Caesar.

  "Okay," Alistair started. "Tell me what I missed."

  Thoreaux went into detail about the things they’d discovered with the Myrmidon. He was a hybrid creature. There was biology in him, but there were mechanical pieces that Thoreaux couldn't understand. The Terram were still conducting tests on the corpse, but it was disintegrating rather quickly. The mechanical pieces had been some kind of nanotechnology that allowed him to flow from one place to another without the human eye detecting it. Thoreaux threw up some cameras so Alistair could watch the Myrmidon with things slowed down by a factor of ten.

  Sure enough, the creature hadn
't been teleporting but breaking apart into nearly infinite pieces. The armor he wore had just been another part of him or part of the technology that made him. From the video alone, Alistair couldn’t be sure. "He's dead? You're confident of it?"

  "As dead as something like that can be, I suppose. His biological material is deteriorating more quickly than it should. The Terram are trying to freeze it for research, but it seems like the AllSeer ensured that wouldn't be possible. How did you know what to do when you were fighting him, Pro?"

  Alistair shook his head. "I'm not entirely sure. I just knew he was too fast, and I had to attack where he would be, not where he was. I guess I caught him when he was reassimilating or whatever you'd call it. I figured I had one chance because once he knew that I knew what was happening, he'd use another tactic. I didn't want to risk that. His lasers, they did something besides cut me?"

  "Yeah, there was poison in them, Pro, but not like the kind you're thinking. That nanotechnology that helped make up the Myrmidon also made up his weapons. When he cut you, those nanocytes or whatever you want to call them entered your body and started attacking your organs. Sort of the opposite of what Caesar does."

  The giant was standing at the doorway, his hand at his sides.

  "It was close, Pro," Thoreaux continued. "That nanotech is a bitch, and no one was equipped to deal with it. The Terram and Caesar helped you pull through."

  "How well am I?" he asked. "Am I able to continue?"

  "Yeah," Thoreaux answered. "You may be a little weaker for a bit, but the nanotech is out of your bloodstream. You're just getting back up to full speed now."

  "I'm going to owe my entire life to the Terram," Alistair mused. "Okay, update me on where we are strategically. I'm ready to get all of us off this planet. Our whole group, not just the council. The Terram have done enough for us."

  "Well, Pro, that's sorta the thing. The Terram have..."

  Thoreaux looked at Caesar, trying to find the words.

  Caesar supplied, "They are your servants too."

  Alistair sat up on the cot and spun his legs so they hung off the side. Thoreaux was chuckling. "Not quite, but close. Caesar still thinks we're all your servants, although I've been working diligently on that. The Terram are pledging loyalty to you, Pro. Their political structures are somewhat foreign to us, having both a king and democratic voting body of senators, but both groups pledged fealty to you. The Terram are now your vassals."