by Vowron Prime
“Why is it that we hardly ever take the time to just appreciate the beauty of our surroundings?” Nova asked, a hand playing across the reeds.
“I have lived for two centuries, yet I never had the opportunity to go out into the world and explore. To interact with the Zevan and experience the sights. For most of my life, my entire world consisted of my lab and my home, deep within the Dyn’s subterranean complex. Dutifully carrying out the will of Ubiquity Prime. It was hardly a life lived at all... I feel as though those years were utterly wasted.”
What she said echoed his own thoughts on her mannerisms. She certainly didn’t act with the experiential wisdom he’d expect from someone so old.
“Yeah, well, I doubt your people would’ve let you if you’d tried. I’ve seen a lot of totalitarian regimes on Earth, but the Dyn are among the worst. What’s important is that you chose to live your own life, following your beliefs. Precious few make it that far,” MC muttered, taking a seat in the field.
“Tell me,” Nova said, sitting beside him as she flared her wings, “what is it that you wish to discuss?”
MC didn’t reply. Silence settled on them, but it was a comfortable silence. He felt like he could just sit out here all night, and Nova wouldn’t press him for an answer. He really appreciated that. She knew exactly how much sway she had over him, with the parasite continuing to invade his mind with every passing day. And that was exactly what was on his mind. That and…
“I feel like I’m losing control, Nova. The urges, the bloodlust? They’re back. They’ve always been there, at the back of my mind, whispering to me. They’ve just gotten louder. I let it slip today, but I can’t say I’m all that surprised.”
Nova frowned. “How severe are the symptoms? Are you unable to maintain your sense of self?”
“It’s… I don’t know. Back there… when I began killing those mutated animals… I blanked out for a split sec. Next thing I knew, I was standing in a field of dead. It seems to hit me the worst when I really let loose with my abilities. But you know the worst part?”
She shook her head.
“It’s all the other moments, where I don’t know whose feelings I’m experiencing. Is it the parasite, tainting my every thought and emotion? Or is it me? Was I the one who murdered all of those innocent Zevan? Or can I blame it on the parasite? Should I stand trial for mass murder? Or do I get out of jail free?”
“Magnus…” She extended a hand, but MC pulled away, prompting her to withdraw.
“And you know what? You’re the worst part of all this!”
Her eyes grew wide in panic.
“Every time I look at you, I get this feeling of contentment. Like I should be next to you, serving you. Like it should be my life’s goal to please you.”
“Yes,” she said, her features warping into a pained expression full of regret. “The parasites are bred that way to guarantee subservience. I am so sorry, Magnus. If there was a way to counter that, I would. You know I would. But there isn’t. The best we can do is to dampen its effects. I’ve been working on a drug that might help—”
“I don’t even know if I want that… Because I know myself better than anyone. And I can’t help but think, what if some of those feelings are my own?”
Nova’s eyes grew wide with surprise. But before she could respond, he continued.
“I’m losing myself, Nova. Who I am. And that scares the shit out of me. More than you could ever know. Throw an army at me. Hell, transport me to an alien planet and turn the entire world against me, I can take it. And with the Resistance going the way it is, we may even be able to save your folks soon.
“But I gotta level with you. I don’t want to watch myself turn into a monster. Helpless to resist as I harm those I love. As it is, I can barely live with myself for what I’ve done. I want to reach in my brain and rip that nightmare-inducing horror out even if it kills me! If I hurt you or Nina… If I betray the Resistance… I don’t know if I could deal with that.”
Nova drew MC into a tight embrace before he could react, wrapping her wings around the two of them. Her warmth—her scent—made the parasite go crazy. MC swooned, struggling to retain control. Then he heard her hearts, and for whatever reason, the sounds soothed him. Her two distinct hearts, the surest sign that she was anything but human.
“Magnus, you do not have to say a word. Please, let me help you,” she whispered. “I am here for you. Now and always. I may not be able to fight as you do, but let me bear your burden. I was the one who put the parasite in your brain. I am the cause of all of your suffering. If you are to blame, then so am I!”
Her makeup ran as tears streamed down her flushed cheeks.
“That’s not fair, Nova. You had no choice.”
“And neither did you, Magnus. But that does not make it any easier, does it? Share your innermost feelings with me. Please. Together, we can overcome this. I promise you…”
The look in her eyes was so genuine. So pure that MC found himself at a loss for words. But in the end, there never was a need for them.
Somehow, even if just a little, it felt like his issues hovered just a tiny bit further away than before. Whether it was the parasite’s influence, or the day’s activities taking their toll, he did not know.
Held in a goddess’s embrace, he drifted off to a dreamless night’s sleep.
Forty-Four
“Nova, about last night…”
“Right,” she nodded furiously. “No one will know.”
“I like you, Nova. I really do, and that’s not the parasite talking. I know myself well enough to know where my feelings come from. I just don’t know if this is the right time for something like this,” MC responded, awaking to first dawn in the same field he’d fallen asleep in.
Apparently, Nova had followed suit, because neither of them had woken through the night. That in itself was amazing; he never slept that well, not even in Sanctuary.
“I understand, Magnus. I can’t begin to imagine how traumatic your ordeal must be for you. And with all of your new responsibilities, I often wonder how you manage. I do not want to add to your troubles, but as one who has lived many times longer than you, I do not want you to regret what could have been. When you are ready, I will be as well. My feelings are firm,” she said, looking him straight in the eye.
It always shocked him just how strong of a person lurked behind Nova’s delicate mannerisms. Unable to find the right words, he simply nodded in response.
The two discreetly teleported back into the city, then to the inn at which the troops were quartered. Yet to their dismay, not only Nina, but Krar, and all of the rest of the troops were already up and active, milling around the front of the building.
Nina was the first to speak. “Back so soon from your moonlight tryst? Y’know, we were all expecting you a bit later. After that hot ’n spicy night in the fields, amirite?”
MC narrowed his eyes, glaring at his troops like they’d just committed mutiny. “Does everyone know?”
“Well, duh! You didn’t seriously think the two most important people here could just disappear without anyone noticing, did you? We found you two within minutes, but I managed to convince everyone to leave you alone. We even left you some guards, which you apparently never noticed.” When was the last time he’d effed up this badly? Maybe never. He stole a glance over at Nova to find her busily studying the cobblestone road.
“Well, I—” he started.
“Relax, Magnus, you guys aren’t teenagers. I mean, she’s two centuries old, for fuck’s sake. No one’s going to say anything if you two run off together. Not publicly, anyway,” she added. “Rather, it’s a wonder it took you guys so long. I mean, you two were alone for weeks. I can’t believe neither of you thought to do anything. My bro’s one thing, but Nova, come on, take a hint!”
“Nothing happened. And nothing’s going to happen, all right? Now let’s focus on the mission,” he said, raising his voice to regain control of the conversation. “Nova and Nina wi
ll take Reaver, heading to Thesbea’s capital to the east to establish diplomatic relations with the country and to see if we can’t procure more troops. They’ll take a teleportal and place it somewhere near the capital, ideally on some land we’ll own, if the Thesbeate’s feeling generous.”
“No pressure…” Nina whispered with a stiff smile.
“Meanwhile I, Torneus, and the rest of the team under his command will assault the floating Qephyx research base where we expect to find another matter fabricator or two. All right, everybody good? You have your orders. Execute.”
The soldiers split off to attend to their duties.
“Congratulations on the nice recovery!” Nina teased, racing to keep up with MC as he teleported back to Reaver outside the city, with Nova in tow. He did not teleport Nina.
“You could have helped keep what happened last night under wraps, princess,” he said, as his sister ran to catch up. “The last thing the troops need is to lose faith in their commander.”
Nina held up her hands, breathing heavily from the exertion.
“Don’t... worry,” she panted, “your image could use a little softening. I took all that into account. Most of the Zevan can’t relate to you. They think of you as some kind of god. Hell, Nova’s more relatable than you are.”
“Good. They don’t need to relate to their commanding officer.”
“True, but right now they feel mostly fear, rather than respect. Showing your human—or Zevan—side will go a long way to restoring that balance. Trust me. And besides, nothing shows stability and organizational harmony like a goddess romancing her black knight, don’t you think?”
MC didn’t dignify her with a response.
“Oh for crying out loud, will you just stop?” she yelled, getting tired of having to keep up.
Relenting at her plight, he picked her up as well and teleported them to the still-cloaked gunship. Krar and his troops marched through Nesthein’s gate moments later.
“Jokes aside, stay safe out there, you hear? If anything happens, don’t hesitate to use the portal to retreat to Sanctuary. And make sure your comms systems are online at all times. Both of you remember how to paint targets, right? If anything happens, don’t hesitate to rely on Heimdall.”
Nova chuckled. “Magnus, I truly do not believe we will require the assistance of your orbital weapon. This is to be a diplomatic relation.”
“Yeah, well… Tread softly but carry a bigass boomstick, right?”
The girls rolled their eyes.
Krar loaded his troops up and floated over to MC.
“I want you to consider Nova and Nina’s lives the absolute priority on your mission. If shit hits the fan, they need to come back alive, and you do too. Even if no one else does. That’s why I’m leaving the X42 with you. If in doubt, stick one of them inside and engage the autopilot.”
“I shall keep them both safe, you have my word,” the hovering alien replied.
“I know you will, friend.”
“Though, I must ask. If the situation is such that only one can live, who would you have me prioritize?”
“Doesn’t work that way, Krar. Maybe this is a human thing, but I refuse to balance their lives on a scale. Bring them both back alive. That is an order. Understood?”
“Yes, Executor.”
“Holler if you need us!” Nina shouted as she boarded the gunship. It spooled its ducted fans, kicking up a maelstrom of wind and dust.
MC gave her a two-finger salute. The ramp closed and then they were gone. The ship activated its camo, disappearing. Only the sound of its ducted fans betrayed its presence, but that also dissipated as it took to the air, leaving MC and his squad of ten behind. Four Zevan knights, two mages, and four Dyn, including Torneus. All wore standard-issue Resistance unpowered armor. The M33s went with the girls for added protection.
“All right!” MC shouted as he donned his full-face armored helmet. “Let’s do this thing!”
MC teleported the soldiers in leaps and bounds a few hundred yards at a time across the rolling hills of Thesbea. They initially moved rapidly through the idyllic scenery, but MC soon hit his headache-inducing limit. The squad then had to truck over the terrain the old-fashioned way until he recovered.
Their destination? A Dyn floating island. A Qephyx antigravity research base that was constantly on the move, circling the world in a predetermined flight path. Thanks to the Resistance intelligence network—which included undercover agents on the island itself—they had full access to its trajectory. The island would pass above a location twenty miles southeast of their current position.
Twenty miles was normally a long day’s hike, but between MC’s teleports and the near-perfect physique of Zevan and Dyn alike, they’d made pretty good time. Four hours of travel put them in position with an hour to spare.
MC used his helmet’s optical zoom to scan the skies. It was a bit too risky to rely on Midar lest they be detected, but his combat armor’s helmet supported passive radar. With the ridiculous emissions that Dyn antigravity generators were supposed to give off, he doubted they’d have any trouble finding it. If that didn’t work, the Eye in the Sky Network had their back, tracking the technological island’s progress and relaying it to their HUDs.
The appointed time arrived, and MC teleported the squad up into the air a few hundred yards at a time, deploying a large energy dampener platform to keep them afloat. In fact, he wrapped the dampener all around them so that it doubled both as a floor and a stealth field system. His team lacked the illusion field generators the Resistance was so proud of, but it wouldn’t matter much. Not with their undercover agents working to disable most of the island’s sensor systems.
A dozen teleports later put them at an altitude of around ten thousand feet. Downright terrifying, even for a soldier from Earth. The Zevan knights were having an especially hard time of it.
“Don’t look down, people! C’mon, we talked about this!” MC yelled over his helmet’s comms.
While the stealth field blocked radio detection from the outside, it also impeded transmissions from leaking out. That was a plus when it came to communicating among the team, though also meant that they lost Eye in the Sky connectivity. Unfortunately, any communication with destinations outside of their bubble was almost impossible.
MC opened a private line to his lieutenant. “All right, Torneus. As discussed, you will be in command when we get up to the island. This is going to be your first field test, but you’d do well to not think of it like one. Your troop’s lives are on the line here. This is as real as shit gets. I may not be there to have your back, so make sure you don’t rely on it. Play it by the book, remember your training, and you’ll do fine,” he said, patting the Zevan-type Dyn on his back.
Torneus gulped. The guy was nervous, but nervous was good. Just as long as it didn’t impact his other faculties.
The island came into view, moving fast.
MC began the second phase of their boarding plan—accelerating them to match velocities. This time, he eschewed the dampener platform entirely, rapidly teleporting everyone in short hops in the direction of the island’s flight path.
Their velocity grew with each jump as they soared higher and higher. The massive island blurred beneath them. MC performed one final teleport, landing them on a grassy surface at the outer edge of the island. Their relative velocities were close, but not identical. His squad crashed down in a tangle of limbs, but the damage was limited to minor bruising.
Any landing you walk away from…
MC stood back up, taking in his surroundings. A lush garden of green ringed an opaque hemispheric dome that spanned several hundred yards in diameter.
“Boys and girls? It’s go-time! Torneus is now in command.”
Forty-Five
“How do you want me to treat you during this mission?” Torneus asked, not daring to look Magnus’s HUD icon in the eye.
“Feel free to leverage my abilities until we get to the dome. Once we’re there,
though, treat me as you would any of your soldiers. You can order me to take action, but not any action you wouldn’t order another soldier under your command. That means you won’t be able to utilize my powers while we’re in there.” He gestured at the dome. “I’m not gonna question your orders or intervene unless I think your order would get one of us killed.”
“Yes, Executor,” Torneus replied. This was his golden opportunity to secure a leadership position within their budding organization. An opportunity to finally prove his father wrong. To prove that all the years he’d spent toiling away were worth the effort. It was only thanks to Krar’eaks that he even had this chance; he was not about to squander it.
“Still, it looks a lot like Krar, doesn’t it? Just upsized. A lot.”
Torneus stared at Magnus blankly for a moment before realizing that the human was talking about the enormous black hemisphere in the distance. Well, he could see how someone might see things that way. The antigravity research facility was constructed by the Qephyx, after all. Torneus shuddered when he thought about the interior of the research base. He’d never quite become accustomed to Qephyx flesh tech over the years, let alone an antigravity research island like this one. They were notorious for being especially… unique.
Torneus ordered his squad through the tall grass. The terrain would naturally camouflage them, and with their stealth field—! He panicked, opening a private video call to Magnus.
“Executor, sir, do you have your stealth field active, by any chance?”
A bead of sweat trickled down his forehead as Magnus stared back at him in silence.
“Nope. Should I deploy the field?”
