Chapter 20
It's easy not easy to always get things your way. To get something, we either have to give something or lose something.
And I've got the short end of the stick here.
But! I think I can get by, just fine.
I'm the Lost Eternal after all! Ha ha ha ha ha...
Okay, that's cringey, bro.
Ahem...
The alien looks at me. I'm unsure what'd happen next.
"Well, what's in it for me? For us?" he says.
Right. The real question.
I smirk, cold sweat dripping down the side of my head.
One, I have an answer to.
"I'd bring the soldier back. The one who fought back, yesterday."
...
He is silent.
But slowly, his facial features change. Is he... smiling?
Evil... Space buddy grimaces.
"You'd do that even if you don't get on the Fly. What does one soldier matter to us?"
I look him dead in the eye. "Because-
"He's no ordinary soldier. He's like me."
___________
-!
It hits.
I was spot on!
Holy guacamole!
Aaaaaaaah!
He starts laughing. Explosive laughter. "You're sharp. Oh, you are."
And now, I don't even need to get on the Fly.
I have all the necessary information. Scary information. That has terrifying implications.
But the deal is set. So, I shall.
...
Or should I?
Now that I think about it, maybe I'll pass...
Bahahaha! Right. Good call.
But actually, no.
Awh, come on!
... Wow, I groaned again! I'm getting better at this!
I can maybe try and figure out what went in his mind to do something suicidal like that if I arrive at the coordinates he was last spotted in! Not to mention, I can also demonstrate what actually happened- to Sally and the others. Especially Rocky. And lastly, I don't know where or if he landed. So, I still need to get on board.
"Initiation shall start soon, so just ask the symbiote to cease suppressing the mechanism."
"Just a moment!" I run towards Sally and Samantha, the others have come out and are standing there with them. Tensed bodies clustered together in the face of the unforeseen. The unknown.
Fiona comes forth. "What did you talk about? Are you really going in one of those?" She is clutching on to her robe, her face a hurricane of worry and concern.
I give her a reassuring smile and hold her at the arms, "It's okay. I'll be alright. I have 'him' with me, you know?"
Her eyes quiver for a moment, before they grow wide by a little and a beautiful smile of realisation falls over her pretty face. "He can get you back to normal anytime, huh!"
"Yeah," I nod. Then I turn towards my commander. "Keep someone to monitor my location, and guide me in the trajectory Billy followed. Don't worry, I'm not going to crash," I assure her.
"I understand," she says. "But why are you doing this?"
I take a step towards her, standing firm. "To show you what really happened. And find out what his motive was behind this mess as well."
With that, I walk away, back towards the alien.
It's okay, Space buddy.
Gotcha. If anything goes wrong, I'm here.
I know.
...
Done?
Yes.
I touch the implant, it feels like a part of me again.
I stand before the alien. "Now take me to the Fly."
But he doesn't immediately.
Instead, he walks towards me further. I tense up. And then, he grabs the implant with his rangy fingers. Turns it.
He speaks something that I can't understand. Maybe he didn't say it to me-
I lose everything in the next instant.
____________
I'll be taking it from here, don't worry brother.
Right now he's being mind controlled and body controlled. It's difficult to wrap your head around such a concept, because actually he's still there, he can consciously process what's happening. But he has no control over anything. And so, it is on me his trusted partner where all the responsibility lies! I won't let you down.
Strangely though, he is just standing still right now, the alien has gone out of the facility, after saying the words "Wait here."
After a while, he comes back with a device in his hand. "Follow me."
Now, Jordan starts walking towards the Flies on the right side of the facility, that is, in the direction of where the control room is located.
I notice a sudden change-
There's a blaring noise. Irritating.
There's an alarm ringing.
And shortly after from the corner of Jordan's eyes, Kevin, Beth, Rocky, Diana and Fiona walk out of the facility. Cheerful.
Initiation. So this is it. It's the start of the work hours, where they brainwash the inmates into maximum work mode!
Mission accomplished: Maximum efficiency brainwash protocol during work is administered. Demonstrated and witnessed.
If all goes right, since what Jordan requested is a part of their work, Sally and Samantha should follow up with his request.
Okay, now, back to what's in front. The alien climbs up to the Fly and attaches the device to the seat. It clicks in and then it enters inside the seat.
"Just a precaution. If you do something unusual out there, after you break out of our control, this will shock you." The alien laughs out loud. "And don't even think of disarming it. You can't."
Well, that's a headache now.
The alien comes down and makes way for Jordan, even gesturing at the cockpit like a chauffeur. Jordan having come to the foot of the vehicle looks up. And now, he begins to mount it.
-!
He gets on like it's standard routine!
This amount of coordination...
It's different from the others. They got their brains washed. But Jordan? He got his brain and body hijacked! It's even more intrusive than what I've done. I'd just wait for the reaction he gives me when I pull him out of this witchery. Hehe, he'd be thankful it was me that hijacked his body first.
But does this mean someone's controlling him? The alien did something to his implant after all.
...
Hmmm.
He takes a seat at the cockpit.
I override the implant.
-!
"Phwaaaa! Haaaa, haaaa, " I heave breaths. I'm not claustrophobic, but I sure felt like one.
Okay, I just checked if I can get back to you. Now back under the spell you go~
"Wait, what?! No!" I say, but I lose everything again.
Okay, the test was successful.
Jordan is completely blank again, and he fiddles with the controls of the Fly.
After about a minute or two, as he calls the time units accustomed to him, the Fly enters the hatch behind it. It turns around, on its six legs that have wheels on them and enters in.
"T -60 seconds. Inducing vaccum," Sally says from the comms.
The cockpit is sealed shut, and he makes some final adjustments with the controls.
Eventually, the hatch opens on the other side.
A rush of emotions overtakes me. I see the void of all existence. I see home.
A map opens up, right above the central console. Holographic.
I see the tracker blinking. And a trajectory that the Fly shall follow in. It's on autopilot.
The thrusters ignite and the Fly jets off of the dock, into space, majestic space, leaving the gigantic structure of the station behind.
The same structure that has colonised so many worlds.
The actual Coloniser.
_____________
It's been a few minutes now and Jordan has been awfully still, quiet. I can feel his presence beside me, but it's just that. A presence. I know you are terrified, brother, even if your body doesn't show it.
We are nearing the point of loss of contact. The planet looms before us. The rings look so much more celestial from this vantage point, the planet pinkish underneath it. It's a rather large planet. Larger than Earth, yet less dense on average, but with overall a higher net mass. A superearth, as they categorise it.
The readings are steadily moving more and more into near critical thresholds. Climbing, climbing towards the beautiful oblivion that looms forth.
Aaaaand, stop.
I bring him back.
-!
"Aaaaaagh! Space buddy!" He pants again. I give him a generous dose of serotonin, instructing his brain to send the signals to his central nervous system for its production.
His heart calms down. "Let's never do that again. I've never been so stuck in my head. Hell, I couldn't even think! I just registered what happened. That's it! It's like I was caught in my head, watching TV!"
I understand, brother. But there's no helping it, you have to make it back inside as well, right?
"Nooooooo!" I cry. "And, I'm back, so let me take over."
As you wish. I imagine him holding his hands up in surrender.
For the first time, I process what I see, speculate, understand, think. It's never been so liberating. Something so ordinary...
And, also. If what I think is right-
"Jordan! What happened? Did you disable the tracker?"
I finally snicker. I was right. Yes!!!
"I did."
_____________
Dread creeps up. The happiness fades away. I was right. Yes. But what was I right about?
I am no longer alone. There is another one like me.
You've got a friend! Wohoo~
No. I have just triggered my worst nightmare.
_____________
To start it off, I didn't know if Billy was alive. It was a gamble. He had to be alive though, because, everything suggested that the show he presented was too extravagant to be marked off as a suicide mission.
Then the real question remains. Where did he go? Did he crash? No. He had to have had a motive. But what motive involves a stunt like this?
What struck out to me from what Rocky said, is that he mentioned something odd. Something I couldn't accept. Billy had changed.
Changed? How? What can warrant a change so drastic that he becomes the first soldier to get off the autopilot? And not only that. What change can make him redeemable as a person? Can he be redeemed at all? For what he did to everyone? Fiona...
I growl.
"What do you see? Jordan?" I hear a voice through the comms. It's Sally.
Right. I shall be looking for clues. Looking for the last assessment Billy made before he disappeared.
I take a look around. This is breathtaking. I don't see that many stars since the sun is still shining behind my back, but the view is mesmerising! Space is totally different! Not to mention, I'm in a totally different part of space, which makes this even more thrilling.
I think I see a faint cloud of nebula through the window at my right side, near the upper right corner. It's reddish, smoky but bright with the light of stars.
The planet is spectacular looking from here. My entire front view is taken up by it, and as I peer to the right and to the left, the brilliant rings come out.
The planet has pink clouds, floating over oceans unlike those back on earth. These are red. Bacterial growth maybe?
There's not much my human eyes can understand, looking like this. But, what else could Billy have had at that time other than these primitive organs?
What could give higher clarity than-
Study the terrain via the hologram on your console.
I look down at it. It's been staring at me in the eye and I didn't notice it because I was so excited.
"Oh, wow, I can move it around!" I yip in amazement. I zoom out, zoom in, turn it around, flip it over. This is fun!
Now don't get carried away.
But wait! I thought Sally said they don't have cameras.
She also said that the Flies have human cameras on board.
...
Oh right.
I see, so this is probably the feed that sensors on the exterior are providing combined with other cameras of the human kind.
The best of both worlds is what this craft is.
Sweet!
"What do you see, Jordan?" Sally presses.
I zoom out, see the planet, then zoom in. Okay, let's have a looksie here...
There are readings here that take into account the relative temperature of the area I'm currently above, at ground level. In fact, I can switch to infrared to have a more visual representation. It's all in english so it's lucid to me.
"Nothing that looks amiss for now," I say, realising I haven't replied to Sally both times.
-!
Oh wait.
I stop zooming.
There are three pin pricks of black on the screen. I see them after zooming in a lot. Huh? That means-
"Why of course, we are directly above the Hive aren't we!"
Those are the black tunnels I had summoned. They are pitch black even on the infrared visualisation.
I change my view to normal and I can sort of recognise the building from above.
"So, if my understanding is correct, Billy nosedived at this very point where my Fly is at the moment?" I say, something bugging me in the back of my mind.
"Yes, you are locked at that very point," Sally says.
So this is what he saw, the last, Space buddy says, in a low voice.
My heart hammers against my chest.
...
I ate him.
I. Ate. Him. Up.
"S-Sally."
"Yes, Jordan?"
"I think I know where Billy is."
I hear a gasp on her end. "What! You do?! Is he alive?" She's jubilant.
I exhale a laboured breath, a voice barely a whisper, shaking with uncertainty, loss and guilt, but most prominently- horror, "I don't know."
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