The Bridge Between us

"If you want to activate the Null wave you'll have to kill me."

Morgan stood on the bridge of Talos 1. Before him lay the comatose form of his brother Alex, the large man rendered unconscious by January's taser. The console in front of him containing the activation link to the Null wave transmitter was filled with static, locked down by the pyramidal Operator's firewalls. Sighing tiredly, his body aching with exhaustion, he rubbed his eyes before moving to stroke the dark stubble on his sharp Asian face. How long had it been since he slept, he wondered. How long had it been since he had been forced to fight for his life and the life of others on the station against the enigmatic aliens they called the Typhon? It had seemingly been days since he had last closed his eyes, gotten a full night's rest. What he wouldn't give to be back in his room right now, even if it was only a simulation, waking up to the comforting sight of his apartment overlooking the bay and going about his usual day. He was running on fumes, adrenaline, and frayed nerves as he had raced between the various sections of the space station, putting out fires both literal and figurative, fighting everything from shape-shifting aliens to his parents' personal mercenary and his army of military kill-bots. But at least he only had one job left to do.

Not an easy job to be sure, not by a long shot, but still…

He looked up at the Operator January, his eye still aggravated and red from the many neuromods he had been forced to implant within his brain in order to survive the horrors that infested the station and fight back.

You talked about the ecology of the cosmos and how underprepared we are compared to them. Shark-infested waters you said. You're right; we aren't strong swimmers, we aren't ready for them. But if we destroy all of this, all of the research and everything we've learned we'll be at an even bigger disadvantage when they come knocking.

He didn't bother to try and speak the words aloud, he knew the Operator would either have a counter-argument or would simply dismiss what he said but it helped steady his resolve. Taking a deep breath Morgan walked forward several paces, raising the battered wrench above his head before bringing it down on the machine's chassis with a loud crash. The Operator fell to the floor with a discordant warble and a shower of sparks, the previously static-filled console screen clearing, revealing the link to activate the Nullwave.

"I knew you'd make the right choice." Alex said from behind him.

Morgan turned to see the man slowly getting to his feet. "I decided to play possum for a few moments to see how this all played out. I knew what you'd do but it's always good to have those instincts validated." He explained as he adjusted his glasses. "Let's finish this." He said with weary finality.

Nodding Morgan walked over to the console, gazing at it for a moment before pressing the touch screen firmly. The box lit up before vanishing and Morgan smiled.

Deep in the heart of the Psychotronics lab the Nullwave device opened like a metallic flower before it began to spin up, creating a massive amount of energy before releasing it in a huge surge. Typhon all across the station and even the Apex itself howled as the powerful psychic signal created an inverse pulse that was anathema to their very being, the golden strands of the Coral shredding apart like spiderwebs caught in a hurricane. As the Null wave surged through the bridge Morgan fell to the floor feeling as if his skull were being torn apart, his vision beginning to blur. Moments later the bodies of the Typhon disintegrated, becoming little more than inky smoke before vanishing altogether as Morgan's vision finally went dark.

He floated in the void, bodiless, blind, deaf, and dumb. A moment or an eternity later he heard Alex's voice echoing all around him, talking as if he were in the middle of a presentation to the board.

"What is the neuromod? Well it's both an easy answer and a complicated one at the same time. It is the future, today, and more importantly...our past, today. This is the work Transtar does, every employee working together. It's immortality...and it is beautiful!"

Suddenly reality asserted itself upon him and his mind froze as his vision was filled with lines of computer code and a flashing notice reading "LG V3.5". Buzzing noises assaulted his ears and disorientation filled him as a terrible feeling of loss permeated his insides, his mind seemingly sluggish and full of conflicting sensations. Panting harshly he forced himself to focus, to try and calm himself as the scrolling code and flashing symbols vanished. A face-covering display retracted away from him a moment later as bright light forced him to blink his eyes.

He tried to speak but no words escaped him as his vision cleared, revealing a spartan room done in white plaster with several tall windows at the rear wall. Before him stood Alex along with four floating Operators of different types.

"It's finished." Alex said somberly before looking over at the Operators. "How did it do?"

The blue-tinted Operator floated forward. "Activation of the mirror neurons is promising. Empathy Quotient shows to be exceptionally high." It stated in Igwe's voice.

What the fuck is going on? He thought fuzzily. Mirror neurons? Empathy Quotient? What is this?

"It probably thinks it was dreaming, that nothing it did mattered." Alex remarked.

It?! He thought in confusion and not a little bit of anger. What the hell?! Why is Alex calling me 'it'?!

"You're assuming it thinks like us." The Igwe Operator replied coolly.

"It's life depends on it." Alex replied frankly. "Our too. It all comes down to the choices it made."

Alex! He cried out as he felt himself becoming afraid at the dispassionate way Alex had spoken. Alex what are you doing?! Why would you say that?! I'm your brother! Morgan! Tell me what's going on!

Alex and the others seemingly ignored his desperate pleas as Igwe floated forward again. "It saved me from the cargo container. I would have suffocated otherwise. And later, it recovered the Leitner connectomes. They were of no practical use, except that they were deeply meaningful to me. It installed multiple Typhon-based neuromods. It could mean an instinctive return to its own kind or an attempt to integrate its dual nature. But it's most surprising act was sparing Dahl. While perhaps for purely selfish reasons, this, at least in principle, enabled others to escape Talos 1."

He stared at them in disbelief and shock, his body seemingly frozen with fear. A return to its own kind? Dual nature? What is...

Glancing down he suddenly noticed he was strapped to a sturdy swivel chair.

What the fuck?! Why am I strapped down?! Why is...my...hand…

Alex nodded before looking over at one to his far left. "Mikhaila?"

Icy disbelief shot down his spine. That's not my hand…

"I would have died without my medication. That wasn't easy. That says a lot, I think, about its heart. Can I say that it has a heart?" She asked.

He was sure his had stopped as he stared at an appendage that wasn't his and yet somehow was.

"It also found my father's records. And then...I did not expect this, but it let me listen to them despite the self-incriminating content. It was willing to make itself vulnerable. Then there was that man in Psychotronic, Ingram. It let him go...was that mercy?"

That's the hand of a…a...

The reality of the situation slammed into him with the force of a freight train and he felt his entire body become like ice in horror, his mind simultaneously unable to face the truth at the same time realizing just what the truth was.

...a Typhon!

"Would you let it live?" Alex asked her.

He jerked his head up to frantically look at the Operator in question.

"Yes." It replied quietly after a long, agonizing moment of contemplation.

A small amount of warmth wormed its way into his chest as he tried to grapple with the realizations that were pouring into his mind at a frantic pace while still trying to focus on what Alex and the others were saying.

"Sarah?" Alex asked. "You're next."

The Operator floated forward. "The situation in the cargo bay was bad. None of us would have survived without its help. And it destroyed a large number of Typhon across the station. That has to be a good sign. Further, it thwarted Dahl's attempt to use us as hostages. If it were one of my officers I would give it a commendation."

Thank god, another vote in my favor!

"Danielle? What do you say?" Alex asked, looking at the Operator closest to him.

"It found me. It didn't need to, but it did. I asked it to stop Volunteer 37. That was dangerous. No way to be sure but I think it has a sense of retribution. A lot of humans controlled by the Typhon ended up dead. Not that it was easy to avoid but...I think it's worth the risk."

A small amount of hope began to blossom in his chest at the positive comments. He wasn't sure what would happen if they found him to be wanting in some way but he was sure it wouldn't be anything good for him.

Igwe floated forward again. "In the end it chose to activate the Null wave device. Why? To preserve the Typhon technology? We can't really know what its motives were for anything it did."

Igwe! He thought desperately. Don't you dare make them doubt me now!

"But we have to make a choice." Alex reminded them before looking at him intently. "You can hear us, can't you?"

Yes Alex yes, I can hear you! He shouted. Why can't you hear me?! Why are you-

Here...I want to show you something." Alex said.

Moving forward Alex slowly turned around the chair he was sitting in, making him face a bank of screens.

"What you experienced was a reconstruction based on Morgan's memories."

He felt a terrible sinking feeling at that moment, destroying the last fragile hope he had been clinging to. I'm not...not Morgan! Alex...he isn't my brother! He has no reason to...

"This...is the world today." Alex told him grimly as the screens lit up, showing a massive city engulfed in orange and gold Coral.

He stared in disbelief at the giant city overrun with the substance.

No...

He could feel himself beginning to shake minutely, his mind beginning to strain under the weight of the revelations that just seemed to keep coming.

"We spent years trying to put what you can do into us. We never tried putting what we can do into you." Alex explained as he turned the chair back around to face the Operators. "Until now."

Stop! Please stop! I can't take any more! Don't do this to me! He screamed.

"You're the bridge between our species." Alex continued relentlessly. "I need to know if you see us. I mean really see us."

He could feel his insides writhing desperately, trying to escape, to run away. If he had been human he knew without a doubt he would be hyperventilating at this point.

The portly man stepped forward a pace or two and held out his gloved hand. "Take my hand if you do."

Alex…

He looked at the hand as if it were an alien appendage before mentally shaking himself.

Focus on the now! Just survive! He's giving you one chance! Don't fuck it up! Worry about everything else later!

The restraint on his right wrist snapped open and he stared at his hand. Dark, writhing, smoky. Not a human hand. Not something Alex would trust. They can't hear me but maybe...

As he stretched his hand forward he willed it desperately to be human, something comforting, something trustworthy. As he watched the dark matter making up his arm shifted and solidified. The three talon-like fingers became blunt and rounded as they split into five digits and reorganized themselves into a more familiar form while pigment and skin seemingly grew from nothing, covering his hand and forearm in smooth, slightly tanned skin he knew intimately.

An instant later he gripped Alex's hand firmly.

Alex smiled then and it felt like a ray of sunlight was covering his body.

"We're going to shake things up. Like old times."

He felt himself relax in relief at hearing the old, familiar words, feeling as though he had just escaped a death sentence at the last moment.

Alex…