“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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