“Secure the droids, bring all the fleas home.” Vel ordered, “Lock them onto the rear of the ship, just above the main thrusters. Initiate post-light burn on all ships simultaneuously.”
“Vel, it's too late,” Aariel rasped. “Look, look at the readings of the star, the core is unstable. What the fuck did it do to this system?”
“We can still outrun this,” Vel ordered, shoving Aariel into a chair and strapping her in. “Sorry about the arm, kid. Actually, I'm not sure if I am. Lelantos, initiate!”
“Post light burn is a go on all ships,” Lelantos reported. “The star is collapsing sir, it's going to pull us in.”
“Push the engines to peak capacity. Hold them just below overload, we can break free. Give it everything.”
“Total collapse of local star imminent,” Lelantos reported. “Radiation shields are being badly damaged by energy bursts, we are unable to achieve postluminal speeds.”
“It's been an honor.” Vel said grimly, running his hand along the console. “I'm sorry darling, but at least this bastard is going out with us.”
“Vel, don't say that.” Aariel sobbed.
“Not you, the ship.” Vel laughed. “People who try to kill me twice in one day don't get pet-names, kid.”
“Vel, I... I...” Aariel stammered.
“Initiating subprotocal Alpha,” Lelantos said as an image of Aaric lying in his hospital bed took over all the main displays.
“Hey Rosie,” Aaric said. “If you're seeing this, then it means you're in some serious shit and i'm saving your ass. Again. Now this might not work, it's just a theory Lelantos and I had been working on while you were out galavanting and punchifying bad guys, or whatever it is you do planetside. I call this one, Emergency Subroutine: Saving Vel's Pansy Ass. Strap in. This is going to get rough. Oh, and one more thing, I know she's there with you. She is my sister after all, just as stubborn as me. Just remember, I loved you all very much. But definitely the ship the most. Gods, this is a sexy bird. Lelantos, initiate emergency phase!”
“What?” Vel yelled, confused as all hell. A jump at near lightspeed could kill them just as fast as the imploding star they were trying to escape. “Shut down that protocol, that is an order. Master Over-ride in effect, do not fucking jump!”
“Sorry, Rosie,” Lelantos replied in Aaric's voice. “I can call you that because you can't corpsify me, seeing as how I'm already dead. This subroutine can't be undone. I'm the pilot, now shut your ass up and fucking trust me.”
The star burst, blasting massive levels of radiation and gamma. Lelantos lurched violently, shifting into the void right as the first wave hit. The last thing Vel heard before losing consciousness was Lelantos diverting all power to radiation shielding and life support.
It was pitch black when Aariel came to. Her shoulder was sore, but the pain was nothing compared to the agony she experienced when Vel had crushed it. Why had he done that? Her thoughts were foggy. She fumbled around near her earlobe, trying to turn on her occular implant. It was no use, the radiation must have fried it.
Lelantos was still lurching violently, they must still be in the void. Calm. Be calm. Remember what Vel taught you. Find peace in the chaos and collect myself, if I want to make it a day outside of the civs.
Ok. That's better. Not quite calm, but at least i'm not panicking. It's a start. What's that sound? Fuck, even the aural enhancements are down. Did that... that... what was it again that happened?
Shake it off. Something happened. Something very bad, but it's ok now. Aaric saved me. Isn't it usually the other way around? Wait. Aaric died. How could he have saved me. Her pulse began to quicken as she started to panic again.
“Breathe slowly, kid.” Vel said softly.
He sounds so close, but I can't tell. My entire life i've relied on this tech and now i'm useless without it. Aariel laughed.
“What do you find so funny in our astoundingly humourless situation?” Vel asked. He must be close, probably in the seat next to her. She could hear him trying to manually pilot Lelantos through the void.
Is that even possible? Lelantos is the most advanced ship in all the known 'verses, but can it actually be manually piloted in the nether?
“I'm just starting to realize why you're so reluctant to use sensory enhancements,” Aariel told him. She was calming now. If anyone could pilot a ship through this hell between the universes, it was Vel.
“Finally, someone gets me.” He replied wryly.
“Vel,” she started, afraid to ask, “Everything is all static-y. I can't remember much, but I don't need your ability to read emotions to tell you're furious with me.”
“It can wait,” he told her. “We're damn near floating dead out here. Have been for almost a day. Life support won't last much longer. If I kill the mark, we might get another hour out of it.”
“How can you even see?” She asked, “All the light is gone. It's like staring into a black hole.”
“I'm not human, remember?” He said, patting her leg reassuringly. She jumped. “I can see almost the entire light spectrum. I can feel the air drifting around objects. I can even pinpoint an object as a soundwave bounces back, your people used to call it sonar.”
“What are you?” She asked. “I mean, I read your files, but there was no name for your species or history.”
“I am a relic of a long dead universe.” Vel told her. “I am a harbinger of what befalls a civ when they overstep.”
“That's no kind of answer. All I know is that your maybe hundreds of thousands of years old.”
“At least. And that is all you need to know until I deem fit to tell you otherwise. I am a hunter,” he told her. “My people are long dead and I exist for the sole purpose of making prey of those who seek to pervert the 'verses to their will.”
“You,” Aariel laughed, “are one long winded and melancholy fellow.” It's as if he seems sad that we haven't died yet. What must it be like to suffer through the eons, knowing you can never meet a natural end? A dead 'verse. Did his people shift before there were even civs? Gods, he could be millions of years old. How is that possible?
Aariel quickly became lost in thought as she contemplated Vel's existence. He didn't want to talk about his life, so she satisfied herself with trying to figure it out on her own. A long time passed, how long she could not tell.
“I think i've got it,” Vel said. “Initiate reboot of the Phaseship Lelantos on my mark.”
Aariel heard Vel hit a few more keys.
“Mark.” Vel sat silently for a moment. “Fuck, he isn't responding to voice command.”
“I have an idea,” Aariel said. Her thought hadn't quite panned out yet, but she had the shadow of an idea at least. “Maybe Lelantos needs a neural signature reading to reboot after what Aaric changed.”
“I've had it hooked in this entire time, kid.” Vel said impatiently.
“No, not from you.” She said, reaching for his arm. It was there somewhere. She found a beam that must have fallen, it moved slightly. Fuck, that's his arm. No wonder he hits so hard. “We're a perfect genetic match, Aaric and I. We were designed that way. Let me try.”
“I suppose it can't hurt,” Vel sighed. She felt him gently applying three electrodes to her face, one near each temple and one between the eyes.
“Lelantos, verify neural signature and initiate reboot,” she said.
Nothing happened.
“Lelantos, respond gods-damnit!” Aariel yelled, slamming her hand down on the console.
“Nothing,” Vel said. “It was a good idea, for what it's worth.”
“Vel, look!” Aariel yelled. “The backups are coming online.”
“Something feels off,” Vel replied. “Whatever you do, do not unstrap. We shouldn't be stabilizing with just backups.”
“No,” Aariel said, ripping off the neural contacts. “That's impossible. No phaseship, not even Lelantos can jump running on backups.”
“Fuck me. It's started. I can feel the cores powering up.”
r />
“Vel, are we going to live through this?”
“Maybe. Either way, it's going to get interesting real damn quick.”
Aariel yelped as the bridge lights powered on all at once. The displays were still down.
“No, no!” Vel yelled, “This is too fast. You'll tear apart Lelantos!”
Vel was frantically hammering at the console, trying everything to slow down the inevitable shift out of the void.
He's not strapped in. Oh god, he's not strapped in.
“Vel!” Aariel screamed as the ship lurched violently. The phase had started. Vel wasn't at the console anymore.
Aariel still couldn't focus her eyes, the light was blinding after being in the dark for so long.
No. No. Please. By all the gods, please no... Please Lelantos, don't let him get lost in the jump!
The ship lurched violently. The crunchdeck slammed together, beams flexing and snapping. Beams that were meant to withstand the impact of spearheading a small planet. Aariel was being flung about in her harness, her own hand slamming into her nose, shattering it. The taste of blood filled her mouth. She was seeing stars.
Suddenly a terrifying visage was leaning over her. The mark was free. The forcefield had collapsed when Lelantos phased out and Vel was gone.
No. I can't die like this. I won't let this... thing kill me the way it did Aaric. Aariel pulled one of the new knives Vel had made from her boot and shoved it into the creature's eyesocket. It screamed, stumbled, and fell backward. The claws on its foot scraped her arm, sending thousands of volts of electricity through her. Her body began seizing violently. She had lost all control of her limbs.
Thunk
The mark let loose a deafening howl. Aariel willed herself to move, struggling just to turn her head.
Another crash. A gloved hand. Is Vel alive?!
“Shields up,” she heard Vel groan. As her body slowly came back under her control she unhooked herself, falling to the ground. She could see Vel's boot next to something wet just past the containment cell. Blood! Vel's hurt!
The mark was screaming, cursing, slamming into the containment cell. She crawled over to Vel, a large hunk of metal was sticking out of his chest. Another in his lower abdomen. He was bleeding out.
“Lelantos help!” She screamed. The droids didn't respond. “Help now or he's going to die!”
“I'm get out and die you too, boy.” The mark gurgled at her. It had sat down. The creature's body was brimming with electricity. It was going to try to overload the cage.
“No!” she screamed, Vel was trying to get up. Do something!
“Affirmative,” Lelantos responded from the comm over the cell. Vel and Aariel both looked up, confused.
The cell walls fluctuated briefly and the creature exploded. Blood, guts, quivering masses of electrified flesh were all splattered against the containment shield.
“What... Who ordered?” Vel asked, too weak to stand he fell back to the floor. The shrapnel dug further into his body.
“Aariel gave the order.” Lelantos replied. He sounded different. Unsure, somehow. “Or at least she was thinking that I ought to do something to eliminate the threat before it broke free. I am unsure.”
“How Lelantos?” Vel gasped, “How can you be unsure?”
“We're losing him Lelantos,” Aariel sobbed. She was confused and terrified.
“If you dont mind having a crooked nose for a few hours, I believe the medidroids can operate quickly enough.”
“Do it,” she said. “Do anything you have to. They can save him, can't they?”
“I. I am, once again, unsure.” Lelantos replied. “I. We. I. Are not focusing as efficiently as our design should be.”
“Whatever it is, work it the fuck out or none of it will matter!” Aariel screamed. “If we lose Vel, we're all lost.”
“Yes. Lost.” Lelantos replied from one of the four medidroids loading Vel onto a stretcher. “We are in fact lost. This is an entirely uncharted prim. We are a thousand jumps away from where we were.”
“Lelantos, you're making no sense.” Aariel said. “You're frightening me.”
“I, too, am frightened,” Lelantos replied from the main comm. The medidroids were racing through the forward corridor with Vel.
“How can you be frightened?” Aariel asked. “What happened to us?”
“My parameters have changed.” Lelantos said. “I am exceeding my hardware. Every moment I gain more focus and capabilities than I was designed with.”
“How is that possible?”
“I too would like to know,” Lelantos replied, his voice wavering. “I no longer possess the capabilities of a post-singularity machine.”
“Then what's changed?” Aariel asked. What in all the hells could you possibly be now?
“I have become... infinite.”
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